INDIANAPOLIS — Several Ascension St. Vincent hospitals remain in the dark, nearly two weeks after hackers crippled their system.
Many Hoosier patients say they're feeling the effects.
Cathy Jenson gets her blood oxygen checked daily at her assisted living facility in Carmel.
"And when it goes down to like 84 or something, it's not good," Jenson said. "You sit and take some deep breaths and try to calm yourself, almost like you were having a panic attack. Sort of the same, but that's how it feels."
On Friday, May 10, she was rushed to the emergency room at Ascension St. Vincent in Carmel.
Her blood oxygen was dangerously low.
Jenson said she didn't have any fluids, food or her regular medications since being admitted.
"Once they figured out I was there, they paid good attention to me. They put me on oxygen. A doctor talked to me on Saturday," Jenson said.
The next morning, she was released and told to get an order for a sleep study.
"I'm still waiting for a call, and I don't know when that's going to happen because they don't have any orders," Jenson said. "And we still don't know why I'm not breathing correctly because we haven't had a sleep study."
For now, Jenson was gifted an oxygen condenser to help her breath at night, but she still has shortness of breath.
She hopes Ascension can get back to normal soon.
"What if you're old and you're nonverbal? There's all kinds of possible problems that could arise just from not having the file in front of you," Jenson said.
A spokesperson with Ascension St. Vincent released the following statement:
"All Ascension hospitals, physician offices, and care sites remain open and operational. Despite the challenges posed by the recent ransomware attack, patient safety continues to be our utmost priority. Our dedicated doctors, nurses, and care teams are demonstrating incredible thoughtfulness and resilience as we utilize manual and paper based systems during the ongoing disruption to normal systems.
Our teams are working directly with any patient whose appointment or procedure will need to be rescheduled. Unless instructed otherwise by their care team, patients should continue to attend appointments as scheduled.
Our care teams are well versed on dynamic situations and are appropriately trained to maintain high quality care during downtime. Our leadership, physicians, care teams, and associates are working to ensure patient care continues with minimal to no interruption.
We are also working diligently on our restoration efforts. We are making progress, however, it will take time to return to normal operations. As systems and services come back online, we will share those updates so that our patients and communities can plan accordingly.
We appreciate our communities' patience and understanding.
We have a dedicated website to share any updates we have across our system and provide updates related to healthcare services as they relate to specific regions. Please visit https://about.ascension.org/cybersecurity-event for the latest updates."