Power Cut to Local Medical Centers

"You got to realize we already stressed to have to do this and for this to happen and there is nothing there to help you continue its puts you into another phase of stress," said Howard.

While some patients were sent home, Ms. Howard waited the 20 minutes to finish her treatment. But a few things bothered her. Why had the power been shut off to a medical center and where was a back up generator for times like this?

"I know I had saw the commercial that stated that these places would not be affected," said Howard. "However, again this is a life-threatening place."

I spoke with Oncor Area Manager Sue Mercer who said the past couple of days have been so cold the demand for energy exceeded its supply. This put parts of Texas --including the Permian Basin -- into the highest emergency level -- Stage 3.

"It was an emergency stage," said Mercer. "A worst case scenario. Had we not been able to cut the load through rotating outages, the entire system would have been compromised. "

That meant rotating power outages not just for residents and local businesses but also for hospitals, nursing homes and medical centers usually excluded from outages.

"If the load is critical and there are procedures being taken, many of those entities will have back up generators to get them past the emergency stage," said Mercer.

This medical center didn't have back up generators and they aren't required by law to have one. However, patients like Shirley Howard hope they'll buy generators to prepare for future brownouts.

"They should have enough love and will for other that they would see these things in place," said Howard.