The CEOs at five Southwestern Ontario hospitals impacted by a ransomware attack say they're still very confident in TransForm Shared Service Organization.
Speaking with the media Friday morning via Zoom, Erie Shores Healthcare CEO Kristin Kennedy says she's working in tandem with the CEO of TransForm and is assuring the community that the shared service provider is working around the clock to help support prioritization of clinical services and looking at a prioritization list for a longer term strategy.
"They are working around the clock looking at rebuilding from the ground up which ensures we have safe guards wrapped around every platform that is brought back up over the course of the next month ahead," says Kennedy.
As AM800 news reported earlier this month, the organizations said after talking to their experts, the safest route is to rebuild the networks from scratch for Bluewater Health, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Erie Shores HealthCare, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, Windsor Regional Hospital.
Kennedy says they're highlighting the importance of rebuilding the system to minimize attacks moving forward.
"We know that the ministry is also very supportive of the work we have done to date and the work that we are doing now to restore our system through our prioritization list and are rebuilding to have one of the strongest systems in place across the province," says Kennedy.
Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare CEO Bill Marra says there are still criminal and digital investigations happening.
"Those results will inform any future decisions we have to make around securing our systems and so not only are we doing what Kristin described a very thorough, meticulous and safe approach to rebuilding, we will also learn from the investigations which will inform us long term for the future," says Marra.
Marra says the CEOs and hospital will continue to be transparent with the community, patients and hospital staff.
He says eight media releases have been issued in 26 days about the attack and hospital services.
Marra says the hospitals have received 'a lot of advice' on how to handle the situation and believes the hospitals have done an exceptionally good job in a responsible and safe way to not further compromise what the hospitals have already experienced.
The attack started on October 23 and was originally called a "service interruption."
It was later described as a "cyber attack" and then a "ransomware attack."