For 10 days, Lynn Ashdown was trapped in her 11th-floor apartment, alone and scared. His Fisher Heights condominium building lost electricity during the May 21 storm, and without a safety generator, the elevators had stopped.
“I was imprisoned here for 10 days, with no way out. This has serious consequences. My medical problems got worse, my cognitive health got worse, my mental health got worse, “Ashdown said.
Ashdown uses a wheelchair and is suffering from a brain injury. She is more prepared than most for the potential dangers of a power outage, but after 72 hours in the dark, she began to panic.
“Certainly the worst case scenario. What comes to mind is, ‘OK, how do I take care of my medical needs?'” He said.
Fortunately, Ashdown is trained as a physician and was able to attend to his own medical needs as much as possible. Her friends and doctors also helped, bringing food to her apartment and carrying portable chargers for her cell phone, her only means of communication with those outside her small apartment.
“It will take me a long time to get over this experience. It really traumatized me. It was worse than the worst scenario I had ever imagined,” Ashdown said.
Now, after the storm, he advocates that all apartment buildings in the city have safety generators for their elevators.
In Toronto, the city council has recommended that the buildings have a security generator, but the city does not comply with the suggestion.
In Ottawa, some new buildings are equipped with backup power for elevators, but City Councilman Keith Egli says there are thousands living in buildings without security measures.
He will present a motion at the next council meeting asking the city to ensure that there are safety generators in all apartments, but city staff say legislation could be difficult.
“If a building is built in the 1960s, it is under a set of rules; if it is built in the 2000s it has another set of rules. In all likelihood, we will find that we have to go to the province to get some sort of harmonization of the rules, “said Stephen Willis, Ottawa’s director general of planning, real estate and development.
At nearby Merivale Gardens, others living with disabilities faced similar challenges, but managed to escape protracted difficulties thanks to the generators they worked with.
“The generator lost electricity on Tuesday, ran out of gas and we lost power and were stuck in the dark on the 11th floor for a whole day, but then they turned it back on,” said Monica Belanger. who lives on the 11th floor of her apartment building with her husband Stephen, who also uses a wheelchair.
“I had to cancel my home care for a week and that has been very difficult,” he added.
Ashdown says she hopes city law can better protect those like her and the many others who were stranded as a result.
“Once the dust settles, people forget, people forget very quickly, so this is the time to act,” Ashdown said.