Brooklyn hospitals dealing with cyberattack that has forced staff to use pen and paper and rely on phones

By KEVIN RINCON

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — A Brooklyn hospital network has been under a cyberattack for nearly a month.

Doctors, nurses, and other staff are now relying on pen and paper, as work continues to get everything back online.

On Nov. 19, One Brooklyn Health, which is made up of three hospitals, was hit by a cyber attack.

“As soon as there was a detection that there was something abnormal happening, we shut everything off,” said Dr. Sandra Scott, executive director of Brookdale Hospital.

Interfaith and Kingsbrook Jewish hospitals were also taken offline.

“There are thousands of computers that we have to make sure every single computer is safe to turn back on,” Scott said.

The fear is having patient information land in the wrong hands. So as a result, staff at all three hospitals are now doing things manually. Personnel say they’re now working in many cases three times as long.

Having to work without computers has not just been a drain on staff inside of Brookdale; it’s also been a trying time for many of the patients.

“It has been really a hassle, and it’s really making me think, well, you know, should I go someplace else?” Canarsie resident Rosemary Stewart said.

“A lot of workers doing things by paper, that takes a lot of time for the patients to go see the doctors, because they’re manually doing it,” Josephine Mitchell added.

Many patients attribute their relationships with the staff as the reason they haven’t left.

“After 10 years of coming here, it’s always something. So if it’s not the computer, it’s this, it’s that, but, you know, you get used to it because this is a way of life. There’s nothing you can do about it,” Brooklyn resident Stephanie Hood said.

In a sign of progress, Brookdale was able to get its pharmacy department back online Wednesday.

“Yesterday, we did 6,000 transactions,” an official said.

Which shows just how many people rely on these safety net hospitals. The fact that it has been nearly a month and they’re still not back online, that’s frustrating to community activists.

“Had we had the resources to protect the infrastructure, the computer infrastructure of these hospitals, we wouldn’t be here today,” community activist Chris Banks said.

Information on the cyberattack has been limited, but a former City Council member claims the hackers are demanding $5 million in ransom, from hospitals that lose millions of dollars each year by largely serving Medicaid and Medicare patients.

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