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Metropolis Reality Forums Ť Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS ť

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   Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS

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Topic: Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS (Read 201 times)

Rhune
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Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS
« on: Apr 28^th, 2003, 9:02am »

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Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS
Fri Apr 25, 5:21 PM ET
By Amran Abocar

TORONTO (Reuters) - Exhausted health workers on the front line of Toronto's battle against SARS must also cope with the frightening knowledge that they are most at risk, and there is no fail-proof way to protect them.

Hospital workers are now required to wear double layers of gloves, full-face shields, masks and goggles and repeatedly wash their hands.

Despite the safeguards, some health workers have still contracted the disease, spurring Canada to invite a team of U.S. experts to audit infection control measures at Toronto hospitals this week.

"It's under control in the community but not in the institutions," said Dr. Paul Gully of Health Canada, the federal health agency.

There has been some speculation that Toronto is facing a more virulent strain of the SARS virus, which has killed 16 people in the Toronto area. Canada is the only country outside Asia where people have died from the highly contagious disease.

Canadian and U.S. scientists who sequenced the genome of the virus said so far all the strains they looked at were almost identical, but they noted slight differences.

A top U.S. infectious diseases expert, who has studied the mutation of influenza viruses, said that differences could be enough to account for Canada's struggle to control the virus despite its top-notch health facilities.

Health officials admit mistakes were made in judging how the outbreak is affecting hospital workers but say such errors are part of the learning curve when dealing with a new virus.

As experts from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examine the procedures in hospitals, Toronto says it may use full biohazard suits in certain circumstances.

"But ... what they gain in isolation, they lose in manual dexterity and visual field and that needs to be taken into account," Sheela Basrur, Toronto's medical officer of health told an emergency session of city council on Thursday.

Health officials say the SARS outbreak is under control and Canada challenged a World Health Organization travel warning to stay away from Toronto to help curb the spread of the disease.

WORST NIGHTMARE

Beyond exhaustion, the fear of getting the disease, and degree of social ostracism from nervous neighbors, friends and even family, health workers face other daily irritations.

"You get rashes from the mask, it's very hot under there and to be wearing it for eight hours is really hard. Sometimes it's hard to breathe," said Roda Thompson, a health worker at Women's College Hospital, which is closed to visitors and new patients except in dire emergencies.

Unlike many health workers, Thompson was not quarantined during the outbreak but after feeling unwell she opted to go home.

"Another lady had flu symptoms and I work close to her so I don't know if I picked it up from there," she said on Friday.

Typical severe acute respiratory syndrome symptoms include high fever, a dry cough, muscle aches and breathing difficulties. The virus has killed 276 people worldwide and infected 4,800 people in more than 20 countries.

In Canada, there were 327 probable and suspect SARS cases as of Thursday, 257 of them in the Toronto area. About 10,000 people have been quarantined since March.

The condition of Canada's cherished universal health-care program has long been the subject of controversy as governments cut funding in the 1990s to wrestle down ballooning deficits.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, has appealed for help from the military and other provinces to give health staff a much-needed break as the SARS crisis takes a heavy toll on an already creaking health care system.

"Nurses are very, very tired," said Doris Grinspun, executive director of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. "There were a couple of things before SARS that were already of concern. One was the shortage of nurses. Second was the level of nurses working casual and part-time."

"That combined with the SARS outbreak has become really the worst nightmare."

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Addams
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Re: Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS
« Reply #1 on: Apr 28^th, 2003, 9:37am »

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Beyond exhaustion, the fear of getting the disease, and degree of social ostracism from nervous neighbors, friends and even family,

it is hard to measure the toll this takes. My hat is off to all of them for the jobs that they do caring for others. I wish I could give each and every one of them a big hug.

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MzWings
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Re: Toronto Health Workers Feel Strain of SARS
« Reply #2 on: Apr 28^th, 2003, 10:23am »

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Me too addams. These people are exhausted beyond words, they're probably not eating properly either. Their resistance is worn down to nothing so it's no surprise that any of them would become so subseptible to SARS.

God watch over them........

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