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Health clinic worried over internet access after week-long outage

A multi-story brick building stands with a sign reading "Buffalo Women Services," while writing on a first-floor canopy reads "The Birthing Center of Buffalo." A car drives by on the street in front.
Alex Simone
/
BTPM NPR
Buffalo Women Services on Main Street, spent all of last week without internet access, thanks to an outage affecting many of the businesses that use Rooftop Data internet service.

A local women’s health clinic is searching for answers after experiencing disruptions to patient services due to a prolonged internet outage.

Buffalo Women Services was without internet for seven days until Sunday night, meaning there was no capacity for cancelling appointments, scheduling new ones or billing, said Dr. Katharine Morrison, an Obstetrician-Gynocologist who runs the health care provider.

“My main concern was that we weren't going to hear from either a patient or hospital or an emergency room that needed to speak with us," she said. "I think everything ... ultimately went well, but that's very concerning, and you know, simply can't happen.”

They normally would see around 70 patients a week, but had about a third of that last week because of internet issues, Morrison said.

Morrison uses internet service through Rooftop Data, which works as an alternative to large service providers in the area, primarily for businesses.

Rooftop Data owner Jeff Hoffman said in a prepared statement that limited service was provided to customers during the period.

“Once the cause was identified, we restored our customers to 100% service," he said. "We stand behind our service, and we appreciate our customers patience.”

He added that service was out in some areas longer than others.

Morrison reached out to some other internet providers to change service but couldn’t get anyone in because of the holiday weekend.

“The service was much less expensive than what we're paying for Rooftop, so you know, that was also interesting," she said. "We're paying top dollar, and yet we weren't getting the service.”