To Pepperell mom, lack of power is lifeand-death situation
PEPPERELL — Pam Richards has cared for her special-needs child in the dark for five days.
When she complained, a National Grid dispatcher hung up on her, she says. So Richards expressed herself the only way she had left. The sign hanging on her front lawn reads: "NATIONAL GRID, this home is a medical home, still no power shame on you."
"I’m frustrated," Richards said Thursday. "And if people are going to hang up at National Grid, I’m not going to continue to call them any more. I’m done." She said she understands there was a lot of damage from the storm and other people without
power, but she is frustrated because she feels like the electric company doesn’t care about her. "I feel that medical homes are supposed to be a priority," she said. "I was told I’m not the only medical home in Massachusetts, but right now I feel that I’m the only medical home that counts because I’m living through it."
Richards’ 16-year-old son, Matthew, has cerebral palsy and a host of other medical ailments that require him to be in a wheelchair, on oxygen, fed through a feeding tube and to use a nebulizer, which requires electricity.
Richards said she is just looking for answers from National Grid and a time frame she can look forward to when her power will come back, but she has gotten no answers, she said.
For now, she is left wondering
Pam Richards of 35 West St. with disabled son, Matthew, 16, wait for power to return, off since Saturday. Sun/Bob Whitaker when the lights will come back on and hoping that the sign on her lawn will help.
Sun/Bob Whitaker
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