The Arctic Vortex that froze the Midwest over the weekend dipped into the Deep South and started moving up the East Coast, shattering low temperature records that have stood for more than a century. With sub-zero wind chills of minus 50 in Wisconsin, minus 40 in Chicago and minus 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio; Antarctica and Alaska were warmer than most Midwestern states!
On Tuesday, freezing temperatures were recorded in all 50 states, including Hawaii where it was only 18 degrees at the summit of dormant volcano Mauna Kea. Fountains froze in Atlanta where temperatures were in the single digits, and water pipes froze in Pensacola, Florida when the mercury dropped into the teens. South Carolina was forced to implement rolling blackouts to handle increased demand for electricity.
From Wisconsin to Ohio and Illinois to Virginia, doctor’s offices and medical clinics suddenly found themselves in need of standby medical answering services. In many areas, closed or icy roads and dead car batteries prevented medical office employees from coming to work. Broken water mains, power failure and frigid weather also closed many buildings, forcing medical clinics to close. Medical offices with MedConnectUSA disaster recovery plans in place were immediately covered. Patient calls continued to be answered by our experienced, HIPAA-trained medical call center operators. Physician messages continued to be sent and received without service disruption.
During the weather emergency, we also provided reliable call answering services to many healthcare providers on a temporary basis through our disaster standby service. The winter has just begun. Don’t let a weather emergency leave your patients stranded. Call us today to find out more about our disaster recovery solutions.
