Lee Memorial Hospital suffers significant power outage

A ‘large-scale shutdown’ of the Lee Health computer system occurred after Lee Memorial Hospital suffered a significant power outage Monday morning.

Hospital spokesperson Mary Briggs told WINK News, “Critical patient care is working, and the hospital is using paper processes in the interim wherever necessary.”

“The power has been fully restored at Lee Memorial Hospital and the computer system is being repaired,” added Briggs.

She also warned patients may find it challenging to access MyChart until further notice.

The hospital plans to reschedule elective procedures and some other non-urgent appointments.

The day started out normally for one Lee Memorial patient scheduled to get a hip revision.

“I finally got called into pre-op, so the anesthesiologist, like, gave me a block in my left thigh, which made it numb and pain-free,” the patient said.

It was all going as planned until the power outage brought everything in pre-op to a halt.

“About an hour later, they decided they weren’t going to do any more surgeries that day because of the computer,” the patient said.

A spokeswoman for Lee Health said that a number of power interruptions led to widespread server outages, which affected some of Lee Health’s IT systems like phones and My Chart, the online patient portal. She said critical patient care remained intact, but many non-urgent appointments and elective procedures were rescheduled.

“They sent me home, and I’m using a walker around the house because from my knee to my hip. That area’s numb,” the patient said.

While she waits for the pain blocker in her leg to wear off, she said she is waiting for a call from her doctor to find out when her operation can take place.

“I’m just disappointed. I’ve been looking forward to it and actually counting down the days as it got closer, and it couldn’t get done today,” she said.

But she knows the hospital had no choice.