Energy Office has distributed 234 portable backup battery systems and allocated 80 additional units to Continuum Care Hospice & Home Health
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS — The Bryan-Roach Administration announced Tuesday that a limited public application period for the Virgin Islands Resiliency Gateway Program will begin Aug. 3, providing another opportunity for eligible residents with critical medical needs to receive portable backup battery systems.
Virgin Islands Energy Office Director Kyle Fleming announced the next phase of the program during the Government House Press Briefing hosted by Government House Director of Communications Richard Motta.
The Virgin Islands Resiliency Gateway Program, known as VIRG, provides portable backup battery systems to medically vulnerable residents who rely on electricity to operate essential medical equipment or preserve medications that require refrigeration. Each system includes a 400-watt solar panel that can be used to recharge the battery when conventional power is unavailable.
Since the program launched in early June, the Energy Office has distributed 234 systems to medically vulnerable households across the territory, including 79 on St. Croix and 155 throughout the St. Thomas-St. John District.
“For a resident who depends on a CPAP machine, an in-home hospital bed, refrigerated medication or another critical medical device, an electrical outage can quickly become a health emergency,” Fleming said. “The VIRG Program is providing more than backup power. It is giving residents and their families greater security and peace of mind when the power goes out.”
The initial distribution phase prioritized residents previously identified through programs administered by the Virgin Islands Department of Human Services. DHS assisted the Energy Office in identifying medically vulnerable residents, verifying eligibility and coordinating the delivery of systems to homes across the territory.
Fleming thanked Human Services Commissioner Averil George, Directors Beverly Joseph and Yvette Henry, DHS Facilities Director Sean Georges, Hugh Nicholas and their teams for supporting the identification of eligible residents and the territory wide delivery effort.
The administration also announced that 80 additional battery systems have been allocated to Continuum Care Hospice & Home Health. Joey Bermudez, a representative of Continuum Care, joined the briefing to accept the systems on behalf of the organization.
Continuum Care will maintain the systems as a revolving inventory that may be deployed to hospice and home health patients as medical needs arise. The units can later be reassigned, allowing them to assist multiple patients over time.
“This partnership strengthens our ability to reach residents whose medical conditions make reliable electricity especially important,” Fleming said. “By creating a revolving inventory, these systems can continue serving hospice and home health patients throughout the territory for years to come.”
Public application period begins Aug. 3
Beginning Aug. 3, residents may apply directly to the Virgin Islands Energy Office for the next phase of the program.
To be eligible, an applicant must:
- Be a full-time resident of the U.S. Virgin Islands;
- Be 60 years of age or older; and
- Depend on critical electrically powered medical equipment.
Approximately 600 systems are expected to be available during the public application phase. Because supplies are limited, meeting the basic eligibility requirements does not guarantee that an applicant will receive a system.
Applications will be reviewed using objective eligibility criteria to ensure that the available systems are distributed fairly and transparently to residents with the greatest verified medical needs. As VIRG is federally funded, applications and distributions will be monitored for fraud and abuse.
How to apply
Beginning Aug. 3, residents may download the application form and review program information at: https://energy.vi.gov/virg/
Completed applications must be submitted in person at one of the following locations:
St. Croix
Virgin Islands Energy Office
2 Estate Carlton, Suite 3
Frederiksted
St. Thomas
Virgin Islands Energy Office
Nisky Center, second floor, Suite 208
Charlotte Amalie
St. John
Office of the Administrator
Cruz Bay
Residents in the St. Thomas-St. John District may call 340-714-8436 for additional information. Residents on St. Croix may call 340-713-8436.
Fleming also recognized Energy Office employees who contacted residents, coordinated logistics, loaded and transported equipment and personally delivered battery systems to homes throughout the territory.
“Our employees stepped beyond their usual responsibilities and went directly into the community to make sure these systems reached the people who needed them,” Fleming said. “They embraced this effort not simply as a job, but as a responsibility to serve, and I could not be prouder of their work.”
The VIRG Program is administered by the Virgin Islands Energy Office as part of the Bryan-Roach Administration’s continuing effort to strengthen household energy resilience and protect medically vulnerable Virgin Islanders during outages and emergencies.
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