Ascension Health

Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola and Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast are teaming with the Florida Department of Health to expand their maternit care program.

The health system expects to hire people this fall who will provide information about how to access lactation support and nutrition counseling as well as car seat installation training and stress management.

Primary technology is again available for Ascension's Sacred Heart and St. Vincent's providers, nearly a month after a ransomware attack forced the St. Louis-based health system to shut down its network.

The health system says it is making progress restoring its network. Meantime, the chain's Florida facilities are seeing patients, although delays should be expected due to the transition to paper records.

Ascension, which runs hospitals and clinics in North Florida, is investigating whether patient data was affected. Meantime, electronic health records are down and "nonemergent" procedures are postponed.

At the forefront of the concerns is a shortage of nurses, which the executives told lawmakers has created an emergency for hospital administrators.