Claremore Power Outage Causes Problems For Local Veterans Center

Power is back on for people living on the West side of Claremore after they lost power for hours.

Power has been back on since Sunday night, but crews in Claremore have been at the damaged substation on North Highway 88 all day making repairs and monitoring the situation.

The city says the power outage was caused by a mechanical issue made worse by the hot weather. Homes and businesses on the west side of town were affected.

"Well the first thing you always think of is what happened in Claremore this time, and then, is our generator gonna kick on and take care of everything," says James Baltutis, the Assistant Director of Nurses at the Claremore Veterans Center.

He says having reliable power is a must.

"We can't provide care without electricity either for maintaining the environment for the residents or providing them care," he says.

Baltutis says generators help them keep essentials powered up, like oxygen machines and IVs. Even giving medication requires power.

"It's hard to pass medication, it's hard to chart, you can't do any of those things unless you pull out paper charts which makes it a lot more complicated," says nurse Haylee Jones.

She takes care of dozens of veterans and says after serving our country, they should be comfortable.

"They deserve the best care, absolutely, without any obstacles, because they've already had enough," says Jones.

The city says its obstacle at the substation has been fixed, but it is still asking residents to utilize energy-saving methods during this heat wave.