In March 2003, one SARS patient showed up in a Vancouver emergency room and another went to a Toronto emergency room. But two very different sequences of events unfolded.

Dr. Lyne Filiatrault was working in the Vancouver ER that day. Her team leapt into action and—with a little luck and a lot of preparation—prevented SARS from spreading at the hospital. A government agency immediately put in protections and built a firewall against SARS in BC, protecting staff, patients, and the public. Nobody died.

In Toronto, however, SARS exploited a system unprepared for the unknown. It was the largest outbreak outside Asia. It shook the city and left healthcare workers and patients under-informed and under-protected. 44 people died. Many more contracted it as it was left to smoulder beneath shoddy protections.

In the aftermath, the SARS Commission report detailed the far-reaching failures in Toronto and how great work from healthcare workers and science advisors staved off a far worse outcome. The report laid out instructions for how to avoid such a preventable public health tragedy in the future. It contained "cheat codes" for how to stop a threat like COVID. But public health leaders largely seemed to ignore it, including Dr. Bonnie Henry, who was in Toronto when it happened. In fact, she was the lead investigator in the Toronto SARS outbreak and testified in front of the Commission.

Hear how Dr. Filiatrault and her team put the precautionary principle into practice against SARS in 2003, what public health can still learn from this story for the events of today, and what we need from good public health leaders heading into a future where more pandemics threaten us all.

TRANSCRIPT HERE

(04:26) Chapter 1: Vancouver - Dr. Filiatrault's story
(18:34) Chapter 2: Toronto - A city unprepared
(35:58) Chapter 3: What makes a good public health response?
(50:01) Chapter 4: Safety at work
(53:05) Chapter 5: What's in a good public health leader?

*Correction: throughout this episode I refer to Scarborough Grace Hospital as Scarborough General Hospital, which is incorrect. Scarborough Grace Hospital is now called Birchmount Hospital and exists under the umbrella of the Scarborough Health Network, which also includes a Scarborough General Hospital.

LINKS/RESOURCES

What makes a good public health leader
SARS Commission Final Report

CREDITS
Public Health is Dead is created, hosted, produced, written and edited by Daniella Barreto.
Music, sound design and mixing by Alexandria Maillot.
Fact checking and production support from Anika S.
Editing support from Kevin Ball, Anika S. and Lauren M.

*As this episode mentions, a disproportionate number of healthcare workers who keep the system running in Canada are Filipino. The Filipino community in Vancouver is reeling from a violent attack at this year's Lapu Lapu festival. Much of the healthcare we have access to in Canada works because of the frontline labour of Filipino people, many who are women and immigrants. If you can, instead of chipping in to support this episode, please consider sending funds to the community-led Kapwa fund *to support people affected by this awful event.**\

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