A couple of weeks ago, on the 10 year anniversary of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, VCH News asked you to post your memories of that unforgettable time.

Thanks for all of the thoughtful comments and stories – it’s interesting to see the different perspectives, the varying glimpses, of this historical event from our fellow staff members’ eyes.

And feel free to add more comments and stories below.

Nurses are the unsung heroes of medicine

By Deborah Hamilton, registered nurse, Critical Care – ICU

I remember the SARS epidemic well. I worked in the ICU at the time. When I cared for the SARS patient, he had been in strict isolation for longer than any other SARS patient in the world. To care for this particular patient, I wore my glasses, goggles, a face shield and a N95 mask that was extremely malodorous to breathe through. I wore a double gown and two pairs of gloves at times. I was isolated in a quiet room around the corner from my colleagues and sometimes would not leave the patient’s room for hours at time. It just wasn’t worth it to come out of the room to take all the gear off. My hands were raw and bleeding by the end of my shift, and I had cuts on my nose from the pressure of the goggles on my face.

At the time of the SARS outbreak, I was taking a course in medical history and was learning about the plague. During that time, if there was an outbreak of the plague, the doctors in the region simply packed up their offices and were unavailable to see those dying of the illness. I remembered this historical fact, and thought not much has changed so many generations later, when one day, the patient in my care was so sick I asked a doctor to come and examine him. The doctor would not enter the room. I asked him if he thought his life was more precious than mine! He said no, but was unwilling to enter the patient’s room.

I am so glad that that patient recovered and went on to live a relatively normal life. I won’t forget the bravery and dedication of so many nurses who faithfully cared for the SARS patients here in Vancouver and in Toronto. Many of us trusted our medical colleagues who told us it was safe to care for these patients, and consequently succumbed to the disease. Nurses are the unsung heroes of medicine, and I am proud to count myself as one.

History can teach us a lesson

By David Sima, clinical staff educator, Respiratory Services

As a respiratory therapist I had a large amount of involvement with our SARS patient.  We were “lucky” that things did not escalate to the level that Toronto achieved with SARS.  Part of VGH’s luck, as I remember it, was the SARS pandemic had began in Ontario before it hit British Columbia so we were partially ready for it. We also just happened to choose for a ventilator with heated expiratory filtration to help protect the staff,  this was not a common feature for ventilators at the time (still not on all mechanical ventilators to this day).

The positive that came from the VGH SARS experience was an increased awareness of AGMPs (aerosol generating medical procedures), precautions in dealing with airborne, and and aggressive implementation by the Respiratory Therapy Department here at VGH to ensure all mechanical ventilators have proper filtration. We were, I believe, the first department in Canada to ensure all critical care mechanical ventilators had heated expiratory filtration. This was a departmental mandate put in place immediately after our SARS experience.

It is good to look back at history, ours and Ontario’s, and take some lessons. Ontario had multiple health care workers die from exposure to SARS. We in VGH had no, that I am aware of, transmission of SARS to a HCW ( health care worker). Lesson learned is that awareness and precautions by ALL disciplines can have a massive impact on the outcomes of patients and in the transmission of airborne pathogens to both the staff and the public.

I remember handing a thermometer through a car window to a scared patient

By Carol Swan, public health nurse, tobacco reduction coordinator, Public Health Nursing

I only have one vivid memory of providing nursing care during the SARS outbreak. I was the only nurse working at a private medical clinic with 10 physicians. It was my job to screen and triage incoming patients, and we had a sign on the front door asking people with any of the risk factors for SARS to not enter the clinic, but to wait out in their cars in the parking lot. It was then my job to glove, mask and gown up and assess these patients through their car window.

I remember handing a thermometer through a car window to a scared patient that had just returned from the suspect area with a cough. It was a helpless feeling knowing that we were dealing with a potential deadly virus, and personally scary for me as we sure weren’t quite sure how SARS was spread. Fortunately the patient was fine, but I can still remember the feeling a fear of the unknown with this one.

SARs was “little more than a footnote”

By Annette Floyd, public health nurse, Raven Song Community Health Centre

The SARS epidemic is little more than a footnote for me.

From September 2002 until August 2003 I was working in a remote region of central Sudan. The only power that we had was a few solar panels. There was no internet or television and rarely a radio.

I was surrounded by children dying almost daily of a variety of diseases: malaria, pneumonia, encephalitis to name a few. When we finally heard about the SARS outbreak, to be honest, it was hard for us to feel much of anything. The people that we were caring for dealt with outbreaks of deadly diseases constantly, with little or no medical care available to them.

I am sure that the SARS outbreak was a challenge for those who worked through it and devastating to those who were affected by it. But it is a reminder to me of the privileged society that we live in that its impact is such that we are discussing it 10 years later.

SARS was a “painful memory” as a Hong Kong nurse

By Winnie Yu, community nurse, Strathcona Mental Health Team

Talking about SARS, it was a painful memory for me as a nurse from Hong Kong. I was working in Hong Kong at the hospital where the first outbreak happened. The ER needed to be closed down because staff were sick.  I was allocated to work in the SARS ward. During this period of time, I needed to put on gloves, N95 mask, faceshield and gown to start the shift. It’s a very impressed period of time, taking care of my friends, my colleagues who suffered from SARS. I had a friend fighting SARS in ICU and she passed away.

As a daughter, I have to call my mother everyday when I was working in the SARS ward. I want to let them know that I am safe and healthy. With the family’s support, I had the courage to go to work.  It is not easy for my family to accept that.  I remember the day that I knew I was allocated to work in SARS ward, my first response was to call my mother, let her know that how much I missed her, my grandma and my brother. I request to have dinner with them the night before I started working in SARS ward.

After working in SARS ward for couple weeks, I was admitted to the SARS ward as well because of cough and fever.

Ten years already! There was a big change in my life, I had became a nurse in Vancouver. Ten years after SARS, we are more aware of prevention. Every time when I wear a mask, it will remind me about SARS. I hope as time goes by, we won’t forget prevention is the best way to control spread of disease. The most common and easy way to carry out this is by washing your hands!

Airport experience during SARs was “invaluable”

By Chris Sims, patient care supervisor, Access Services

During the initial start of the SARS outbreak, I was approached by Vancouver Coast Health to help as an appointed quarantine officer with Health Canada at Vancouver International Airport on behalf of Vancouver Coast Health. My clinical role was to meet arriving international flights from Asia and screen the passengers for any noted signs and symptoms for SARS-related illness. Shortly after, the thermal imaging cameras were employed to assess the significant number of travelers arriving from many countries within Asia.

This was an invaluable career and clinical experience for me. During my five-month tenure during the emergency response, I was able to witness the complex operations of a large international airport, Health Canada and the B.C. health authorities response to the global outbreak.  My experience also increased my clinical awareness around infection control issues, and the significant amount of provincial and national emergency planning that is required to contain the outbreak within our province and country experience in dealing with this of global response to the outbreak.

Oh my god, what are we going to do?

By Dr. Dean Chittock, senior medical director, Acute Services (video courtesy of Global News)