The global outage experienced by Microsoft on Thursday, July 18, 2024, was triggered by an issue with CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor software. This problem led to widespread disruptions and caused the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ to appear on Windows PCs. The news was everywhere for days. Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed. EMS systems around the world were crippled because their servers and computers were inaccessible. Microsoft says the bug hit 8.5 million computers, and organizations struggled to get back online for days.
One of our valued partners, CareFlite, was impacted by this outage. CareFlite operates a wide range of services, from medical transport to 911 response to flight, 24/7, with dozens of bases across Texas. CareFlite’s team is committed to making precious minutes count, whether providing emergency scene responses or inter-facility transports. This disruption could have seriously impacted CareFlite’s ability to dispatch and communicate with their ambulances and helicopters. Communications Director Nick Zamorano, upon realizing that his team was unable to operate, acted quickly to get their Communications Center back online. Nick reached out to VLI in the early morning hours for assistance. CareFlite utilizes Logis IDS as their Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system within the multi-tenant Logis platform, which is hosted and supported by VLI Tech, Inc. VLI and Nick worked together to get his team online and dispatching shortly after the incident started with some creative, temporary solutions to help overcome CareFlite’s internal network being down. Then, while CareFlite’s internal IT team was working diligently on restoring their network, Nick and his team could dispatch and communicate with his crews without further interruption.
VLI wants to shout out Nick, who was instrumental in bringing Logis IDS and VLI to CareFlite several months ago. He has been a great partner and is a forward thinker. This significant incident seemingly came out of nowhere, and Nick responded swiftly and calmly to get his team back to their mission. His quick action, as well as his trust in VLI, led to a positive outcome in a difficult situation. VLI was pleased to be a part of this success story and looks forward to our continued partnership with CareFlite and Nick’s continued growth as a leader at CareFlite.
If you are interested in Logis IDS and its Al-based planning engine and dynamic deployment, hosted and supported by VLI Tech, please contact Fred Wilkins at Fred@vlitech.com for a demo.
A Note From CareFlite:
Thank you, VLI Tech, for your timely and efficient response to the issue CareFlite experienced with the Crowd Strike outage. Kudos back to Phillip and Scott, your dedication to our needs and commitment to providing excellent service has been instrumental in our ability to continue delivering high-quality patient care. We are extremely grateful for the support you have provided during a challenging time, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the services you have delivered. Thank you for your exceptional work and for helping us overcome this obstacle.