Keeping the old, the sick and the homeless safe

For the homeless of the region, the lacerating winds Thursday night simply became too much, driving overflow crowds to shelters.

In Shoreline, at least a few adult family homes tried to warm residents with portable heaters, fireplaces or bundled blankets. And five out of the 12 Northwest Kidney Centers were without power Friday, triggering an emergency dialysis regimen for some patients.

But for the most part, the institutions for the region's most vulnerable people managed to weather the storm just fine.

Thanks to backup generators and batteries, hospitals and nursing homes in Seattle and King County were among the few places that kept operating, mostly uninterrupted, protecting critical patients and keeping computers running as the power crashed Thursday night.

"As bad as this storm was, we've been pretty fortunate," said Darren Redick, vice president of facilities for Swedish Medical Center. "Our staff made it in and we've been running pretty well."

Two shelters operated by Hopelink in Kenmore and Redmond remained without power Friday afternoon. The agency said it might put people up in motels if the outage continues.

In Snohomish County, staff at the Everett Gospel Mission scurried to find 30 extra cots and made sleeping spaces in hallways and offices. A boarding home in Edmonds was evacuated when a tree fell into it, and a similar home in Mill Creek was cleared out when it lost power.

Several hospitals, including Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle and Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, lost electricity overnight before it was restored Thursday morning. Hospitals canceled many elective surgeries to conserve power.

But in general, hospitals fared relatively well because of sophisticated emergency systems.

Generators kept things running at Swedish's Providence campus in Seattle and Group Health Cooperative's Eastside Hospital in Redmond. Several trees fell on Group Health's woodsy campus, but spokeswoman Katie McCarthy said none hit the hospital.

Northwest Kidney Centers was redirecting patients to locations with electricity. The patients' dialysis treatments will be shortened, from three or four hours to 2 ½ hours, to accommodate the patient load, said spokeswoman Ingrid Goodwin. All patients are asked to call 206-292-2771, extension 0.

Meanwhile, one hospital's emergency capabilities ended up helping its community in a different way:

Kirkland residents discovered that emergency diesel generators at the public Evergreen Hospital Medical Center made it a choice dining spot, and they streamed into the hospital cafe. Officials said they planned to stay open late Friday night — until 10 p.m. — to serve the hungry people.

Kyung Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com

Marsha King: 206-464-2232 or mking@seattletimes.com