A car crashed into a utility pole in Poulsbo, Wash., on Dec. 31, affecting healthcare and telephone services in the area, according to PTLeader.com.
A 38-year-old man crashed his car into a utility pole, splitting it in half and causing it to catch fire and burn. The man was taken to a nearby medical center and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
However, the crash temporarily brought down the Epic EHR system at Port Townsend, Wash.-based Jefferson Healthcare.
Though the $4.7 million system was down from the afternoon of Dec. 31 until the evening of Jan. 1, Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glenn said patients were not harmed due to the lack of connection. Mr. Glenn added that some nonemergency patients went home, accessed their Epic records through a separate system and brought their information back to providers at the hospital.
The car crash also temporarily affected landline 911 services in sections of East Jefferson County.