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Power Outage Sends More In-Home Patients To Hospitals

CHICAGO (CBS) -- This week's massive power outage in the Chicago area has prompted people who rely on electricity for their medical equipment to get themselves to hospitals.

Centegra Hospitals in McHenry and Woodstock have seen an influx since yesterday in patients who rely on ventilators and other medical equipment that need electricity.

Centegra spokeswoman Kim Kubiak says some of those patients just need a place to plug in and be monitored. Others need to be admitted.

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Kubiak says an "incident command system" was ordered yesterday.  As a result,  both hospitals set up cooling centers for the patients coming in from homes without electricity.

ComEd spokesman Tony Hernandez says ComEd's places a priority for people who need electricity restored for their medical equipment.

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