A major computer crash caused by a road accident was making life hard for healthcare workers in Laval on Tuesday, as well as in the Lanaudière and Laurentian regions, with an impact on emergency services at Laval’s Cité de la Santé hospital.
The Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) of Laval is therefore asking the public to completely avoid the emergency room at Cité de la Santé until further notice, except in cases needing immediate intervention.
The CISSS is recommending that those with medical needs seek help elsewhere for the time being, even though Cité de la Santé remains open to the public.
“Our teams are mobilized to maintain essential services and minimize the impact on the population,” the CISSS says on one of its social media feeds.
Although the emergency department at Cité de la Santé remains operational, many computers aren’t working, forcing staff to take notes on paper rather than digitally, which slows down their work, according to the CISSS.
A fiber optic cable that was severed as a result of a road accident is the apparent cause of the computer systems failure, according to a Facebook post issued by Santé Québec Lanaudière.
The CISSS de Laval also announced that it had cancelled all appointments scheduled for Tuesday morning at its blood collection centres.
“Our team will contact those affected to reschedule their appointments. Thank you for your understanding,” reads a post shared on the CISSS’s social media.
At some facilities within the CISSS de Laval’s institutional network, staff were experiencing telephone problems Monday and Tuesday.
Incoming calls were reported as not working at the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital in Chomedey, the Sainte-Rose CLSC, the Louise-Vachon residence, the Centre hospitalier ambulatoire régional de Laval, and the Centre de réadaptation pour les jeunes en difficulté d’adaptation de Laval.
Patients were being advised to call 8-1-1 if they required services, or 9-1-1 in case of an emergency.
