“Imagine your house going dark and hearing the alarms going off telling you that your ventilator is running on a battery with two hours of power. Or seeing the laptop power light blinking, letting you know that you have 10% power left, which means you have only a few more minutes to communicate. Or the medicine that helps keep your lungs clear will go bad if power isn’t restored in the next 24 hours.” -Pat Dolan.
My dear friend Pat Dolan has ALS. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, affects the body’s motor functions, rendering the patient’s ability to eat, speak, move, and breathe on his own. For most of us, it’s a royal pain when the power goes out. For Pat, it is the difference between life and death. This is true for many like Pat.
Good News, Bad News
Two dynamics are in play—first, the good news. The power industry is responding to the need to decarbonize in a big way. Their efforts include reducing carbon emissions, increasing grid capacity and electric storage, and working with the developer community to supply huge power supplies for Electric Vehicle Fast Charging DC stations. New laws such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are seeding this transition. The long-term benefits to the climate are obvious.
Now the bad news: The impacts of climate change are upon us now. Decarbonization will take time. In the meantime, we are experiencing record-breaking heat waves. Witness areas of the US where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees for weeks on end. Add to this the current state of the grid. It is aging, and even with the planned expansions and upgrades, relief is not happening soon enough to provide relief today. Once the power goes out during deadly heat waves, the clock ticks much faster for people like Pat. Intense storms, droughts, and floods are becoming more common, taking out power lines and severely impacting vulnerable populations.
What Keeps Pat Alive
Here is a sample of the equipment that keeps Pat alive. All require power. Sure, there are battery backups. But batteries only provide a limited lifeline. Pat’s essential equipment includes a ventilator and backup for breathing, a cough-assisting device to clear lungs, a suction pump that collects mucus, and a nebulizer to maintain lung health. And finally, Pat uses a communicator that translates eye movement to text and voice, which is essential for his life. Even non-essential to-life systems are critical. They include a motorized hospital bed, a power wheelchair, air conditioning, and a medicine refrigerator.
The Critical Customer List
We had a critical customer list when I worked for the power company. This list identified customer locations where power was essential. The problem with this list was that it was incomplete. For many utilities, this list might be a spreadsheet or tags on the customer records in their customer information system. The problem is that not all critical customers are the same. That information is rarely maintained.
Keeping it current is another problem. Further, that data is desperately needed during outages and emergencies or for planning for future events like wildfires. Having a surefire method for assuring accuracy is essential. One step in that direction is to have the information captured and maintained in the GIS. Why? GIS shows the relationship of the electric network to the critical customers. It could know the details of the criticality of a customer. It could even know what essential equipment is also necessary for restoration. Does the customer have an emergency generator or a solar battery system? GIS is about analytics. Knowing the location of vulnerable customers in relation to shelters, crews, or damaged infrastructure can be life-saving. Knowing this information in advance can help utilities with their emergency restoration plans. GIS is also an engagement tool like social media to allow customers, particularly vulnerable customers, and utilities, to engage in real-time.
GIS Engaging the Critical Customer
Most utilities manage critical customers, sure. Yet, there should be a better way for utilities to get detailed critical information, like what life-saving equipment the customer has. One of the beauties of GIS is its ability to communicate, collaborate and coordinate directly with customers. Utilities could set up a simple ArcGIS Survey 123 application with input from the ALS Association that details the most common life-saving and critical equipment ALS patients have. Patients or their care givers could fill out the survey and electronically deliver to the utility. In addition to the equipment list, the ArcGIS Survey 123 app would show the patient’s location. Since ArcGIS Survey 123 is part of the ArcGIS system, it can be integrated within the GIS for restoration and emergency planning. This implementation would free the utility from keeping the information about the ALS critical customer current and accurate.
Despite his disease, Pat Dolan is working hard using his vast knowledge of ArcGIS to develop applications to help others with ALS.
His team developed the ALS Geospatial Hub, which brings data together by geography to discover patterns and relationships to improve care, accelerate research, and advocate for the ALS community. They recently released the ALS Clinic Advisor survey that allows the ALS community to share their experiences at the clinic. And Pat has been working with the CDC National ALS registry to study the place history of ALS patients to identify environmental conditions that might increase the risk of ALS. To learn more about GIS and the ALS Registry, attend the webinar 2023 National ALS Registry Annual Research Symposium and Meeting to be held August 29-30, 2023. Pat and Esri experts will present on August 30th. Register at registry [zoomgov.com]. Pat also works closely with the ALS Association and the International Alliance ALS / MND Associations mapping ALS Clinics worldwide. If you are interested in learning more about Pat’s work, you can follow him on LinkedIn.
GIS, Vulnerable Populations, and Electric Utilities
Power companies are consumed with work as they ramp up their decarbonization efforts. Yet their mission includes ensuring that they don’t ignore the most vulnerable of their customers in their zeal for getting work done. Better collection of data from vulnerable populations and spatially enabling that data can provide utilities (as well as first responders and public safety officials) the needed data to make their investments, operations, and engineering responsive to the needs of those who rely so heavily on continuous energy service.
Learn how ArcGIS can elevate electric utility decision-making, asset management, engineering, and operations here.