Hamilton Health Sciences and Cogeco collaborate to light up HHS-HOTSPOTS - a new wireless Internet service to help patients connect with loved ones while in hospital
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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 12, 2011
Hamilton Health Sciences and Cogeco collaborate to light up
HHS-HOTSPOTS – a new wireless Internet service to help patients
connect with loved ones while in hospital
Hamilton, ON – Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), in partnership with Cogeco, has launched
HHS-Hotspots, a new subscription-based wireless Internet (WiFi) service that gives patients and
visitors access to the Internet, to help them stay connected with family and friends.
Shannon Clark, a former HHS patient applauds HHS–Hotspots. “While waiting for the birth of
my baby, I was in hospital for three weeks. At the time, wireless Internet wasn’t available in
patient rooms but I was lucky enough to find a common area in the hospital where I could access
a Cogeco WiFi signal from outside the building,” says Shannon. “I was able to get online and
stay connected to my family, friends and coworkers, share my test results, let them know what
was happening with me, and most importantly, announce the arrival of my son.”
Understanding first-hand the benefits of WiFi access during her hospital stay, Shannon wanted
other patients to experience the same benefit and contacted Cogeco to encourage the company to
work with HHS to provide this service option to all patients and visitors.
“We knew that staying in touch with loved ones was important to our patients during their stay in
our hospitals and had already been investigating and evaluating solutions for Internet service for
our patients when Cogeco approached us about partnering together on this initiative," says Mark
Farrow, Vice President & Chief Information Officer at HHS.
"Providing HHS-Hotspots as an additional hospital service option enables our patients to
maintain communication online with their support network - an important component that can
contribute to better patient outcomes.”
To implement HHS-Hotspots, the HHS Information & Communications Technologies project
team, led by Kim Dell, Manager, IT Infrastructure & Project Management Office, worked
alongside Cogeco’s Business Solutions design and engineering teams to design and install the
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network which runs over HHS’s WiFi infrastructure of over 1000 access points across Hamilton
Health Sciences.
“Cogeco Business Solutions, a leader in fibre connectivity and advanced network solutions in
Canada, is proud to be partnered with Hamilton Health Sciences to plan and implement network
technology to support our community,” says Leonard Collins, National Director, Cogeco
Business Solutions, Fibre Services.
“Our community constituents deserve the best connectivity possible. Cogeco is committed to
meeting the changing needs of our partners and customers. The combination of over 1,000
wireless access points at Hamilton Health Sciences facilities and our MPLS enterprise national
fibre network is the perfect solution to meet the connectivity challenges and provide an enhanced
user experience.”
The option to subscribe to HHS-Hotspots will initially be available to patients and visitors at
McMaster University Medical Centre, McMaster Children’s Hospital, St. Peter’s Hospital, and
the Regional Rehabilitation Centre, with plans to expand the service to other HHS sites within
the year.
The prepaid Internet plans to connect to HHS–Hotspots range in pricing depending on access for
a day, couple of days, week or month. Once connected, patients and visitors will have the
freedom to get online from their room, a patient lounge area, cafeteria, or almost anywhere else
while onsite to access the information they need and stay connected.
To celebrate the launch of HHS-Hotspots, the wireless Internet service will be available to
patients and visitors free of charge until October 20, 2011.
For details about HHS - Hotspots visit: www.hamiltonhealthsciences.ca/hotspots
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For more information contact:
Vel Snoukphonh Maureen Tilson Dyment
Public Relations & Communications Senior Director,
Hamilton Health Sciences Programming & Community Relations - Ontario
Telephone: (905) 521-2100, ext. 64138 Cogeco
Mobile: 905-870-0111 Telephone: (289) 337-7030
Pager: (905) 521-5030 Mobile: (905) 220-0968
Vel.Snoukphonh@jcc.hhsc.ca Maureen.Tilson-Dyment@cogeco.com