Priority: to keep you informed
The Web specialists rise up to the challenge
Tuesday, March 10, 2020: At the administrative offices of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) on Guy Street, the Digital Media team is working to resolve some issues and enhance the intranet’s display capabilities. The threat of COVID-19 has put pressure on the team to quickly find solutions.
The goal was to provide the MUHC community with quick and easy access to the information and tools needed to do their jobs in times of crisis. Working closely with Information Services (IS), the team had to increase its efforts to provide access to the intranet, especially to those who now have to work remotely.
“It all happened so fast,” recalls Ramus Yango-Sindo, webmaster. “Almost overnight, many of our employees were at home, with an urgent need to access information in order to work. From February to April 2020, we saw the number of connections to the intranet increase by more than 350%, an all-time high!”
Éliane Leroux-Lafortune, Digital Media team leader, adds: “In fact, within just a few days, we saw a significant increase in the number of users. And thanks to a collaboration with the Department of Information Security Governance, not only were we able to provide secure access to the intranet to physicians but we also provided access from homes and cell phones.”
To quickly disseminate information validated by the Centre de coordination des mesures d’urgence (CCMU), the team created a new COVID-19 section for MUHC employees. “The pandemic has been evolving so rapidly, and all of our teams have had to constantly adapt,” says Alex Roussin, programmer analyst. “The intranet is an especially important tool for the organization in this context; it’s where you can find current news, policies and procedures, as well as the accomplishments of the staff and references to media articles. This page is updated 7 days a week—thanks in part to the help of our colleagues on the communications team.”
To keep our patients informed of changes on our sites, the team also set up a COVID-19 page on the MUHC website, including FAQs and useful information to help patients prepare for their appointments in times of the pandemic.
More than two months have passed since the beginning of the crisis. “We continue to work hard to make sure that everyone has access to relevant information, when they need it,” says Éliane Leroux-Lafortune. “You have to be agile and flexible to consistently react to changing situations. Our goal is to put communications technologies at the service of our institution. We continue to move forward, to evolve.”