Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s 2nd District is asking the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs whether Togus VA Medical Center in Maine has adequate backup power, following reports that emergency power had to be brought in during Monday’s storm.
Togus Director Ryan Lilly says that the hospital did request and receive a backup generator from the Maine Emergency Management Authority on Monday, after one of its generators had performance issues and was replaced with a mobile unit.
“We do test all the generators monthly, and those issues weren’t revealed until the actual load hit that generator yesterday. So we’ll be looking to replace that one generator going forward,” he says.
Lilly says patient care was not affected, and that Togus did not have to use the backup generator provided by MEMA. Lilly says regular power was restored Monday afternoon.
