UPDATE: All TidalHealth Locations to Resume Normal Operations Friday
Image Courtesy of TidalHealth
UPDATE: TidalHealth systems are continuing to come back online following an IT outage Thursday.
All TidalHealth locations, including TidalHealth Primary and Specialty Care offices across the region are expected to resume normal operations on Friday, August 14. Patients with scheduled appointments on Friday should plan to arrive as scheduled unless they are contacted directly by their healthcare practitioner’s office.
The outage was caused by a sprinkler pipe that was struck during construction of the facility’s observation unit.
TidalHealth Urgent Care facilities have reopened and TidalHealth Atlantic phone service is operational. The hospital system’s website has also been restored.
DELMARVA – TidalHealth has canceled all outpatient appointments on Thursday following a systemwide phone and internet outage.
Just before 9:45 a.m., the health organization announced on social media that they were suffering effects of a power failure. Officials have since clarified that the outage was caused by a pipe being struck during construction of the observation unit. The damaged pipe fed water into the sprinkler system of TidalHealth’s Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) closet, causing outages to phones, internet, electronic medical records and some facility power.
“Immediately we went on downtime procedures, we went back to paper, those sorts of things. There were no incidents related to patient safety. We do downtime drills, so folks knew exactly what to do when we lose power when we lose infrastructure, so we put all those in place. And now our team is in the process of recovering that lost infrastructure,” said Cindy Lunsford, executive VP and chief operations officer at TidalHealth.
TidalHealth says they are working on restoring service, but do not have an estimated restoration time. TidalHealth.org and Epic MyChart is also down.
The outage impacts all TidalHealth facilities, including TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, TidalHealth Nanticoke, TidalHealth Atlantic, TidalHealth McCready Pavilion and all TidalHealth Primary & Specialty Care locations.
TidalHealth Atlantic phone service is now operational. Loved ones may contact patients directly through their in-room phones or call Patient Experience at 410-641-9654 for assistance. TidalHealth Nanticoke and TidalHealth Peninsula Regional are currently unable to receive incoming calls.
Additionally, TidalHealth Urgent Care locations have reopened as of 2:00 p.m. TidalHealth Peninsula Regional was on a trauma divert for most of the morning, but officials say the divert has been lifted as of 1:20 p.m.
The Salisbury Fire Department says procedures are in place to ensure patients are promptly transported to the appropriate facility.
Just before 11:30 a.m., officials said Wicomico County is bringing its mobile command center to TidalHealth Peninsula Regional, which helps provide better communication with emergency medical services.
Lunsford said that TidalHealth expects to be open tomorrow, but patients should call their providers to confirm, as it is not a guarantee that services will be fully restored.
“For the rest of the evening the teams are working really hard so we’ll probably have a better idea later on tonight or in the morning if everything is fully restored. Again, they’re working really hard to make sure we get everything up and going. For now, we’re here to serve the community and we’re up and running, so nothing to worry about,” said Dr. Trudy Hall, senior VP of medical affairs and chief medical officer at TidalHealth.
For those with cancelled appointments, Lunsford said patients will need to contact their doctors to reschedule.
TidalHealth says patients should monitor social media for updates.
WMDT will continue to provide updates as they are made available.
