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Local hospital services back online

Swift action to protect hospital computers from malware resulted in downtime but saved systems, securing data and privacy
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NEWS RELEASE
TIMMINS AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL
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The Timmins and District Hospital announced that its information technology systems are back on-line as of Jan. 22, 2019.

“TADH was one of 24 northeastern Ontario hospitals affected by a computer virus that impacted services for several days last week,” said Blaise MacNeil, President and CEO.

Northeastern Ontario’s hospitals share various technology systems hosted at Health Sciences North (HSN). On Jan. 16, HSN detected a malware infection on the network. As a preventive measure, it put most of its systems on downtime as well as most of the systems from the region’s hospitals, including TADH. Those swift actions were successful.

At the same time, TADH secured its systems which limited access to some services including Imaging, Lab, Pharmacy, Oncology and Fracture Clinic. Units had to revert back to manual and paper-type processes.

Maggie Matear, Chair of the Hospital Board said “I want to take this opportunity to thank our staff and management team for performing exceptionally well under very trying circumstances. I’d also like to thank the public for their patience and understanding during these difficulties and as we work through this recovery phase.”

Update to services impacted

Diagnostic Imaging: Pending images cleared
Lab: Approximately 70 per cent through pending lab requests
Pharmacy: Pending orders cleared
Oncology: Operational with pending treatments cleared
Fracture Clinic: Clinic operational with extra clinic added this week to address pending appointments

The Timmins and District Hospital (TADH) is a level C, fully accredited community, referral and teaching hospital serving the residents of the City of Timmins and Cochrane District as well as the adjoining areas of the Temiskaming, Sudbury and Algoma districts. The hospital offers a full range of medical, surgical, critical care, maternity, newborn, pediatric, mental health and diagnostic imaging services.

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