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Hello my fellow Sadgeezers; my name is Maurice – just a common ordinary guy who drives a delivery truck for a living. My story here is a true one, and one that at first blush looked like real life Sci-fi…..
I guess it started in early March/2003, with me filling in for a fellow truck driver who was on a medical leave. His area was predominately Asian and one of his first stops was at Scarborough Grace Hospital here in Toronto, Canada. Just the usual mindless work, day after day; until I heard about a mysterious illness in China and Hong Kong that was being urgently broadcast by the World Health Organization. Yah…..another killer bug (the possible pandemic we had been warned about?) on it’s way sooner or later I thought…..What I did not know was how soon that would be.
Within a few days, I started to hear rumblings about a person with this mysterious illness in one of our Toronto hospitals. So I asked some of the guys in hospital if they knew about it and they told me that the patients were here; in this very hospital. Patients…. A few days later the newspapers started reporting about the nurses at this hospital expressing concern about the disease and a few days after this – some started showing symptoms. The usual nervousness and joking with the staff carried on for a few days but the numbers and severity of their illness grew with intensity. At this point I started to get a bit panicky and expressed my concern to management who brushed it off…..
The next day I knew something was wrong; the news was nothing but SARS and that nobody seemed to be getting better from this illness. I decided then and there that there was going to be no more hand-to-hand contact with me and the personnel at this hospital. My boss said that maybe we should get someone else (i.e. a broker) to drop off the delivery; but I was resigned to my fate and told him that there was no reason to expose anyone else to that environment. On my way to the hospital; I stopped off at a phone booth and phoned up the receiving staff in the back and asked them what was going on there. I was told that everyone was in gowns and masks. I asked if it was still alright to drop this final load and they said yes…..they would be waiting for me.
The hospital was strangely empty as I drove up the driveway, just the usual cars of the staff…..but no visitors….. I came around the back; and yes, the usually busy dock was completely empty except for one bay door left open – just for me. I backed up slowly and was met by two “spaceman” that looked vaguely familiar. They were the usual staff but wearing gowns, masks and gloves, etc.. They started to tell me of the new rules about their work and how they could not have sex for two weeks and had to eat off plastic plates and that some would just stay at the hospital…..Yikes….. I decided to just toss the freight on the dock and get the hell out of there. All the while these large fans kept blowing hospital air into my face which is uncharacteristic at this time of year…..odd and uncomfortable. I threw a sheet at them that they could sign and fax in instead of them signing my portable computer. I said it was nothing personal…..they knew what I meant. We were all nervous and very upset and even now my eyes are watering up thinking of the violent emotions as I wished good luck to these guys and their uncertain future – true heros….. I spent the rest of my work day in a haze; listening to the radio about the illness and that we may have to abandon ill people in their homes to die and things like that…..morbid…..
What turned from horrible to terrifying was driving pass the Hospital on my way back to our depot and seeing the entire perimeter of the hospital sealed off with the yellow police tape; and policemen with guns turning away all cars from entering the hospital. I experienced one the the most gut wrenching feelings in my life and stopped down the street to tell my boss: “they are sealing them in there to die”. Then came the urgent broadcast over the news that thousands of people were to be quarantined; all of which had visited the Scarborough Grace Hospital during the last ten days. I can’t express the calm state of panick that overcomes you – you really don’t know how to react. All we knew at this time was that if you got the disease – you were dead. I actually thought at that moment that this was straight out of the X-Files…..and why me of all people….. There was a lot of talk about whether this illness was airborne or not – but at the time nobody knew. Some said that if it was airborne – the world was doomed and that Toronto could see thousands upon thousands of deaths. A horrible thought overtook me….. was I a human guinea pig? Was that infected air blowing in my face? Someone had to be sacrificed in a controlled environment and was that someone me? Hospital staff could pick up the germs directly from the patients – not me…..was this my fate? I locked myself in my home and a message was left on my answering machine stating that I was seen entering and exiting the hospital and that I was to call city health officials. I spent the night tossing and turning. My guts felt dried out for some reason, I just kept rolling around in my bed – I was never more alive…..
Maurice
Thank you for sharing this story with us.
As I read about the recent actions in Toronto I was appalled.
In one case a child showed up for a regular day of High School and had an asthma attack. One hour later the school was sealed off with deadly force and the children and staff were forced to stay there overnight until they were cleared. It occured to me that this kid could be in serious scapegoat trouble as we humans tend to look for excuses. But as it turned out you guys showed some class and nothing more was said on the issue. I personally don’t know what to think, but hearing first hand accounts such as yours is a real eye opener to empathizing with the victims.
Again thank you for sharing this story.
I know this all sounds like overkill, but as a healthcare worker, I can tell you it’s necessary.
During the AIDS outbreak of the 80’s we became aware very early in the epidemic that the infectous agent was not airborne but involved contact with mucous membranes. That mode of transmission is much easier to keep contained. SARS, it appears to date, is an airborne virus. That mode of transmission is MUCH harder to contain, since a cough or sneeze could send hundreds or millions of virus particles into the air, to be inhaled by anyone nearby. Unfortunately, STRICT quarantine is necessary.
I don’t know about hospitals in Canadan, Maurice, but in the US those fans you speak of wouldn’t be venting contaminated air to the outside. Think about that. What sense would it make to vent an AIRBORNE virus to the outside world. Most likely the fans were blowing at you to make sure no contaminated air got IN to the open bay. The receiving area was no doubt sealed off from any corridors leading further into the hospital and the guys in the space suits were probably wearing them as much to protect themselves from YOU as to protect you from them.
In my hospital, a patient in respiratory isolation gets put in a negative pressure room. The air flow is designed to come in from the corridor and flow out thru a filtered vent before leaving the building. The filters are fine enough to trap small particles the size of what’s ejected during a cough or sneeze. I’m sure any air blowing AT you was safe.
MM
Class…… I could tell you some stories. Negative pressure rooms – they did not have enough. You have to forget about what we know now. Remember that this was in the early days when we really knew nothing of SARS. The first patients were thought to have had T.B. which really got the infection going. After the alert sounded loud and clear around the world; hospitals had a chance to nip it in the bud – not in Toronto though. The story is not over…..
The morning brought a new reality. How was I to eat? How was I to pay my bills? A talk with management the day before only resulted in them questioning my right to go into quarantine. They thought that I should use up all of my sick days and then go on worker’s indemnity. Forget that! I was not sick; I was exposed on the job!
The trip to work was uneventful. However; my appearance in the canteen showed the concern of my co-workers as they kept a safe distance. They supported my grievance though and I left immediately to the warehouse floor to have a talk with my manager. Actually; I made a b-line for him and cornered him. This guy said this and that…..but when I told him of all the various ways I had been exposed – well, he started to get upset, told me to leave immediately, and that I would get my minimum hours no matter what. Fine with me. On my way back home I stop by my parent’s place to pick up some food that they had left on their entrance and I had to holler at my mother to stay inside while I picked the stuff up…..mothers….. So started ten days in quarantine.
I was lucky; I lived alone and did not have to wear a mask or take any of the precautions that the others had to (in order not to infect anyone else). I would spend my time on the computer talking to friends and posting on my favorite message boards. Every day I had to take my temperature in the morning and evening; and see if it rose over 100.4 degrees or if I showed any of the other symptoms of SARS (dry cough, aches, etc.). We also had a daily press briefing where health officials would read out the SARS total as if it were sports scores. In any event; the days passed uneventfully but I started to get a bad case of “cabin fever”…..I had to get out. I figured that since I was not showing symptoms, I could risk a drive around town in my car and then back home – what could be safer than that?
I drove downtown into the swanky Queen Street area where many went clubbing. My head was starting to clear up when this stupid squeegee kid comes up asking to clean my windshield. I sprayed washer fluid on my windshield and fanned the wiper blades in a vain attempt to get rid of him but Noooooo! – he wanted it his way. This guy went ahead and washed my windshield anyway and blocked my car trying to extort money from me. I had no choice; I lowered the window and gave him a toonie (two dollar coin) and gave him a sarcastic “Thanks!” – but really, I wanted to say: “Welcome to SARS…..As**ole”. That was the last time I broke quarantine.
More days passed and I figured the danger period was over. Oddly enough, I was telling a friend just that when I took the thermometer out of my mouth and it read 100 degrees plus…..
Maurice
Wow! wadda cool story (and so well told)….scary, but cool 🙂
I wonder how many of us would have reacted in exactly the same way!?
Thanks Sadgeezer – They were strange times at the beginning. Some people panicked. The hospitals ran out of masks and had to use inferior surgical masks (the N95 is preferred – I will only use the 3M N95 or better…..). Just a note…..the 2.00 dollar 3M N95 mask was selling on the street for 49.99 at one point!
Panic mode…..: A Fever? I could not believe it! I took it again and I think I got the same reading – but I forgot to shake the mercury back (and old thermometer), the next reading was back to normal. The other readings from then on were normal. A random fluctuation? Most probably I placed the thermometer on my computer or some other warm object…..who knows…..
In any case that was the last major event in my quarantine and I returned to work. Work…..you could hardly tell I had left. My scanner was untouched (and I really mean “untouched”), and the truck I had been driving looked like it had just been parked. I was obviously treated like a leprosy case, but I was expecting this. The hospital was in lockdown and we did not deliver there anymore (an employee came and picked it up – they had nothing to do…..only SARS patients in that major league hospital…..).
But work had changed drastically when I returned. I now carried a mask, gloves, and anti viral spray for my hands and equipment (the gloves were useless). I still had eight buildings that contained walk-in medical centers and G.P. offices/pharmacy – lucky me…..and all in and around “ground zero” (as the hospital was called). SARS patients would walk in to these clinics regularly, quarantining staff who were not masked and gloved, or scaring the ones that were. You could always tell – the ambulance and police car gave it away.
I would spend three and a half hours in these buildings. Never taking the elevator (someone could cough) under the pretext that sick people do not take the stairs – doctors and nurses seemed to follow that same advice. It was suffocating wearing that mask and running around and scaring people not used to the sight. But every one in the health care profession was wearing them. Hot looking girls in tight skirts would wear them (kind of sexy I thought…..even thought about someone coming up with designer pattern masks, etc…..). If I heard a cough in a office, I would turn around and come back later (droplets could enter eyes etc.). Under every fire exit door to the stairs was a little pile of tissues that people left (not wanting to touch possible SARS contaminated handles). I talked to drug company reps in parking lots about spraying vs gloves etc. – totally unreal….. You were afraid of prepared foods and I lived off chocolate bars since I could eat them without touching it with my hands – boring after a while….. But the worst part of this was the cowardism and racism seen in the health care field and general population as a whole…..
The final instalment of my story will deal with outside issues. Up till now; you have been privy to my world and how I saw it/interacted with it. But SARS affected more people than the sick.
Chinese people (Asian in general for that matter) were shunned, nobody sat next to them on the subway, etc. There was also a lot of hate added to the fear of this group of people. Many blamed naturalized Chinese Canadians for importing the illness to Canada (totally irrational); and while the racism was mostly subtle, it was there and talked about when they were not present.
In the health care field, this discrimination was also there. Every health care office had the usually Ministry Of Health warnings not to enter if you fell into one or more of the affected groups. However; many offices decided to further clarify the matter by identifying distinct groups that were not welcome…..
Cowardice….. Others just plain locked their doors and I had to knock on the door and proclaim who I was before the door would “crack” open and then open wide for the delivery. Most notable in this field were the doctors who decided to take a “vacation”….. Others decided they would treat patients by appointment only. Some walk in clinics turned off the lights and locked the doors and I had to phone or knock loudly to get someone to come out…..almost laughable! One door of such a clinic had some signs on the door: “gone for the day…..be back tomorrow” (was on the door for several days…..)/”Please note: We do not have SARS!”/”receptionist wanted – full or part-time”….. I should have photographed all of this. In general – the nurses were great, the doctors…..nuff said….. There is too much here to discuss, some other time…..
Many lessons will be learned for this continuing SARS experience. For instance; not having walk in clinics located in shopping malls, twice – contagious SARS patients wandered through crowded malls to the walk in clinic – exposing how many to the virus (this was kept secret from the press). Oh, I could go on, but I really just wanted to write this little chapter of my life down and save it as a memory. This forum has aided me in typing the story out for myself; and hopefully giving you – the reader – a personal view of the SARS experience in Toronto. Take care.
Maurice
Fascinating post!
I always thought of Canadians as very level headed and laid back. I could imagine the repercussions that you experienced happening in the UK or US, but strangely enough, not Canada. It’s given an interesting insight (rather than the matter-of-fact news reports I’m used to) into the effects of SARS on a community.
Thanks.
Re LexxLurker: Actually that hospital is Scarborough General Hospital and not Scarborough Grace Hospital. The two hospitals are just miles apart and have the same initials and similar addresses (i.e. S.G.H and 3030 Birchmount/3050 Lawrence). Scarborough Grace was probably the the start of the SARS invasion into North America. The Grace and it’s personnel had to endure much hardship for several months, handling nothing but SARS cases. One such person desperately looked for alternative employment during the crises. In any case; after the first wave of SARS was over – the hospital was released from SARS detail and returned to normal status and even opened the maturnity ward. North York General and Scarborough General and others have current cases already there and will handle future cases.
With regard to the article: It is my contention the the best defense for SARS is real military bio-chemical gas masks and real military bio-chemical suits. I do not care about the image – only the protection of health care workers. Anyways…..
Maurice
This may be a case of closing the gate after the horse has bolted; but I thank all of you who read this little story of mine – I means a lot to me. Take care.
Maurice
Just an update:
SARS is still in Toronto but only 31 people now have the illness. However some tests for the virus have turned up positive in many people who did not show the classic symptoms …..
Anyway…..I’m delivering a envelope to someone in an apartment today at work – when what do I see…..but a guy in a hospital respirator and surgical gloves getting out of a health care company van apparently to deliver some Chinese food…… yes – Chinese food – in the brown bag with the bill stapled on top…..
(for what comes next; please try to look past the lunacy of a guy delivering Chinese food in a mask and gloves…..) Me, he, and an old Chinese woman get into the elevator together. I can not resist anymore and tell this guy that he is wearing his mask wrong – he did not “pinch” the metal band that seals the mask to the bridge of the nose. The guy just gave me the “ya…..ya” look; so the old Chinese woman interjects and confirms my criticism telling him that that is the type of thing that spreads the virus (does any of this seem at all strange to you…..Toronto’s version of elevator talk- or am I just used to it over here?). In any case; we all part company but I did run into the guy on the way back to our vans. I told him to wait and pulled my “SARS Kit” and showed him my mask with the severely pinched bridge area, and also my anti-viral spray that works better than the gloves he was wearing. This guy had no clue at all as to what he was doing. If his hands were contaminated…..he would just keep making deliveries spreading the virus all over the place! He countered that he did have these Kentucy Fried Chicken towelettes that he could use on his hands…..This is the state of health care in Toronto – third rate – third world….. No wonder the virus is still marauding around the hospitals here….. This guy was probably delivering some food to people who were immediately quarantined and needed to eat before groceries could be delivered (as a result of the recent lab tests no doubt…..). I and some other health care people laughed like hyenas over this thing; but it does show how woefully inadequate today’s hospitals and health care workers are trained in epidemic emergencies. The big one is apparently on the horizon (the so called pandemic) – Lord help us all…..
Maurice
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