X-Message-Number: 21852 Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 07:01:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Christine Gaspar <> Subject: SARS update --0-988057401-1054476066=:98964 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hello everyone. I wanted to provide an update to the SARS situation in Toronto, and for myself. Tomorrow is my last day of an imposed 10 day quarantine period for myself, and thousands of my co-workers. I have not left my apartment for 9 days, except one night last Monday to go to work. We are on a "work quarantine" which forbids us from going anywhere except to work, and to not take public transit, and to wear a mask when enroute to and from work. At home, we are required to wear a mask around our family members, not to eat or sleep with anyone, and of course no kissing and to take our temperature twice per day. So far no signs of illness for me. There are at least 15 registered nurses from my hospital with SARS (probable or suspected), to date, and 2 physicians. One of my nursing colleagues is in the ICU, on a ventilator, although I have not received an update as to her status. I was also informed last week that one of our physicians is in the ICU at another hospital, in critical condition. Her son came down with SARS and forced the closure and quarantine of his high school, as he attended school for 3 days with SARS like symptoms. This current outbreak is the fault of our hospital, and the directive to relax isolation precautions. An excellent story related to that was on the front page of the Toronto Star newspaper yesterday, where two nurses from the emergency department where I work, reported to the press..under condition of anonymity, that warnings from the nursing staff went unheeded. I will be going back to work tomorrow night, to a hospital that still remains on "code orange alert", closed to the general public. The only patients that they are allowing to enter our emerg department is our staff, with SARS symptoms. Our ambulance bay has been converted into a SARS clinic for the general public, to provide assessment and information regarding the disease. If any member of the general public requires hospitalization, they are directly admitted to our SARS ward, bypassing the emergency department. I will be very very glad when this is over, although I expect that I will be wearing a mask for a very long time to come. The "new normal" in our hospital, in fact in our city, will serve as an example to other communities of how to, or how not to, deal with a similar disaster. My hope is that they can devise a vaccine or a treatment for SARS, although realistically, I'm sure that will take years to accomplish. Our hospital (North York General) has been appointed one of four hospitals in Toronto designated to deal with SARS. The other hospitals will not accept SARS patients. I guess that makes us pros in dealing with this problem, and it makes sense that they will isolate the virus to only four institutions. That's all for now, Christine Gaspar --0-988057401-1054476066=:98964 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21852