The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is reporting progress restoring it systems after a massive cyberattack that disrupted operations at five local hospitals and their shared service provider three months ago.
CKHA CEO Lori Marshall said CKHA's electronic health records were restored December 12, 2023, but there's still months of work to do to fully restore all systems at the Chatham and Wallaceburg hospitals.
Marshall called the return of the electronic health records an important milestone and the largest component of the recovery, adding she was very emotional when it happened.
"Very much focused on our primary clinical platforms that have the most significant impact on our patients and service delivery. So, to get all of those things up and going in December really required the entire hospital community and our resources to get us to that phase," said Marshall.
Marshall thanked everyone involved in phase 1 of a very trying recovery at CKHA.
"My congratulations and thanks to everybody who has gotten us to this stage. It's important to acknowledge that it wasn't perfect and we're still working through some of the hickups as we go through and restore and bring back all of the systems," she said. "My thanks as well to everyone at all of the hospitals in the Erie-St. Clair area. We're really in daily conversations with the other hospitals with respect to how we continue to bring back our organizations to the level that we need."
Marshall noted the picture archiving communication system is also back to allow the radiology department and others in the hospital to see clearer images. Other areas that are back, include systems in the finance department and payroll systems to get staff paid.
She said phase 2 of the recovery is underway to restore, what she called back office systems behind the scenes, such as booking systems and equipment related issues.
CKHA Board Chair Deb Crawford echoed Marshall in thanking the community for their patience and staff and physicians for their professionalism and dedication in dealing with such a difficult cyberattack.
The ransomware attack in late October impacted patient care and forced the cancellation of thousands of appointments.
In Chatham-Kent, recently diagnosed cancer patients were forced to seek treatment outside of the municipality.
Information about 1,446 workers going back to February 2, 2021, was also taken at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, including employee names, addresses, social insurance numbers, gender, marital status, date of birth, and basic pay rate.
An investigation into the cyberattack continues by several law enforcement agencies, including INTERPOL and the F.B.I.