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Residents of Thessalon First Nation (TFN) are looking for answers after a community nurse allegedly accessed their private records without a “legitimate reason” to do so, according to a local health agency.
The TFN members were informed of the alleged mass privacy breach last week via a series of letters from Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services.
Within these letters to each client, Maamwesying chief privacy officer Michelle Brisbois alleges that a TFN community health nurse viewed their medical records even though she “did not have a legitimate reason” to do so, as she was “not providing care” to that specific person at the time.
“Please be reassured that there is no indication your personal health information (meaning your diagnoses, test results, clinical notes, address or contact information) was shared with anyone else,” Brisbois wrote in one of the letters that was supplied to The Sault Star.
“The community staff member has confirmed that no copies were made and that your health record was not altered or removed from the building. (The staff member) no longer has access to Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services Electronic Medical Record.”
Even though Brisbois was hesitant to reveal the specific number of TFN members who were impacted by the alleged privacy breach, she told The Star the incident involved at least 20 people.
Brisbois also claims that the community nurse improperly accessed residents’ medical information between October and January.
Jaime Lanteigne was just one of the many TFN residents impacted by this alleged mass privacy breach, with the nurse having accessed her information on Dec. 18 according to the letter she received from Maamwesying.
Lanteigne told the Star that she was “really upset” when she received word of the nurse’s alleged actions and is currently looking for answers from TFN chief and council, since the nurse is an employee of the band office and not Maamwesying.
However, as of Wednesday morning, Lanteigne said the band office has not addressed this issue publicly or through any internal communications with the impacted residents she knows.
The Star reached out to TFN Chief Joseph Wabigwan via email and phone for his comments but has not received a response.
The Star’s efforts to contact the community health nurse in question through the band office have been unsuccessful.
Lanteigne said this ongoing silence from the administration is especially disappointing given that Wabigwan became chief last November off a platform that promised more transparency between the band office and TFN members.
“When we said we wanted more transparency, we didn’t think it would be over our medical records,” Lanteigne said.
Moving forward, Lanteigne said she has filed a formal complaint with the College of Nurses of Ontario against the individual responsible for this privacy breach.
The Star contacted the College of Nurses to determine if complaints had been filed in regard to this alleged incident. However, a college representative said the organization couldn’t disclose this information because of its legislated duty to uphold patient confidentiality.
Meanwhile, Brisbois said Maamwesying is making some “concrete changes” to prevent the possibility of a mass privacy breach from happening again.
“In the future, we will continue to focus on ongoing staff and community privacy training as a priority,” Brisbois wrote in her letter to clients. “We will also continue privacy audits of our electronic medical records system to ensure we are notified of any unusual activity in patient files.”
kdarbyson@postmedia.com
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