Hospitals in areas of the Midwest where snow and ice storms caused havoc launched emergency disaster plans and limited or canceled outpatient care.

“We did institute a ‘code white,’ ” said Greg Alford, spokesman for Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, where about a foot and a half of snow fell. A code white is specifically for winter storms and included steps to ensure that clinical staff could stay overnight in the hospital, said Alford, who like many clinicians, spent the night in the building. The timing of the storm allowed many staffers to arrive at work prepared to sleep at the hospital, Alford said.

Likewise, Wishard Health Services, Indianapolis, instituted a disaster plan, which mainly meant keeping clinical staffers in-house, spokesman Todd Harper said. The biggest fear in Indiana was from ice, and the disaster plan was lifted at 8 a.m. local time.

Among the hospitals and systems limiting outpatient care or closing clinics were: Cook County Health and Hospitals System, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center, all in Chicago; and Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, according to their websites.