Emergency Preparedness After SCI

Most emergency-preparedness advice assumes you can grab a bag and walk out the door. After SCI, a power outage isn't an inconvenience — if you rely on a ventilator, powered wheelchair, pressure-relieving mattress, or powered lift, it can be life-threatening. The fix isn't fear; it's a plan you build once and refresh twice a year.

Power outages: the big one

• List every device you depend on and how long it runs without wall power: ventilator, CPAP/BiPAP, suction, oxygen concentrator, powered bed/mattress, lift, phone, and the wheelchair itself.
• Register as a medical-needs customer with your power utility. Most utilities maintain a registry; it can mean priority restoration and advance warning of planned shutoffs. Do the same with your water utility if you depend on water for care routines.
• Backup power, in order of seriousness: spare device batteries (vent users: minimum 1–2 fully charged spares, rotated) → a portable power station (battery generator, safe indoors) sized to your devices' wattage (our backup-power buying guide shows how to size one and which units to buy) → a fuel generator (outdoors only, never in a garage — carbon-monoxide deaths spike after storms).
• Wheelchair charging: keep the chair charged above 50% as a habit. Know whether your charger works from a car inverter or portable power station, and keep the manual charging method (or a manual backup chair) realistic in your plan.
• Plan B is a destination: if power will be out longer than your batteries, where do you go? A relative, a hospital, a shelter that can handle your equipment? Decide now, not at 2am in a blackout.

Ventilator, trach, CPAP & suction users

Backup caregivers

• If your caregiver can't reach you (storm, illness, car trouble), who is trained and able to step in? One name is a plan; zero is a gamble. Aim for two.
• Write the care basics down — transfers, meds, bladder/bowel timing, AD response — so a backup isn't working from memory. The First 30 Days Packet sheets work for this.
• Agency-staffed? Ask the agency directly: "What is your emergency staffing plan when my regular aide can't come?"

Supplies: the two-week rule

• Keep a rolling 2-week reserve of catheters, bowel program supplies, skin care items, and medications. Reorder when you open the reserve, not when it's gone.
• Meds that can't stop suddenly (e.g., baclofen) deserve special attention — ask your pharmacist about an emergency supply policy.
• Water: a gallon per person per day, more if your bowel/bladder routine depends on it.

The SCI go-bag

A standard go-bag, plus the things shelters won't have:

• 3–7 days of catheters and bladder supplies, bowel program supplies, gloves, wipes, chux pads
• Complete medication list + 7 days of meds (rotate before expiry) — and a copy of the med list sheet
• Pressure relief: your cushion goes with you, always; a folding mirror for skin checks
• Chargers: wheelchair, phone, any device — plus a car inverter
• Repair kit: tire kit, multi-tool, duct tape, spare casters/hardware your chair tends to eat
• Paper: insurance cards, key phone numbers, AD wallet card, brief medical summary (injury level, surgeries, allergies, baseline BP)
• Temperature gear (see below): cooling towel, spray bottle, blanket, hand warmers

Evacuation

• Plan the exit physically: if the elevator is out or the ramp is blocked, how do you actually get out? If the honest answer is "two strong people and a technique," name the people and practice the technique once.
• Register with your county/city emergency management's access and functional needs registry if one exists; tell your local fire department a wheelchair user lives at the address.
• Know which local shelters are accessible and which can support medical equipment — call your emergency management office before a disaster and ask.
• Accessible transport in an evacuation is scarce. Line up your ride (neighbor with a van, paratransit's emergency policy) in advance.
• Practice once a year. A plan you've never run is a theory.

Heat and cold

Many people with SCI can't sweat or shiver normally below the injury (why), so a heat wave or a cold house during an outage is more dangerous for you than for the neighbors:

• Heat: spray bottle + fan beats sitting in it; cooling towels and vests work; hydrate ahead of thirst; know one air-conditioned refuge (mall, library, cooling center) you can actually get into and around.
• Cold: layer below the injury even if you can't feel cold there; check skin under layers and heat sources — never put heating pads or hand warmers directly on insensate skin (burns you can't feel are a classic SCI injury).

The 30-minute version

• ☐ Register with your power utility's medical-needs program (one phone call)
• ☐ Write your device list with battery runtimes
• ☐ Name two backup caregivers and share the care basics with them
• ☐ Start the 2-week supply reserve next time you reorder
• ☐ Pack the go-bag this weekend
• ☐ Put a twice-yearly "refresh the plan" reminder on your calendar (daylight-saving weekends work)

Sources & Further Reading

This page draws on lived SCI experience and published guidance, including:

• Preparing for a Power Outage (home medical devices) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Disasters and People with Disabilities — Ready.gov (FEMA)
• MSKTC factsheet library — Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center
• Today's Care — Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

SCI.help articles are information, not medical advice. Practice varies by injury level, provider, and institution — always confirm specifics with your own care team.