SARS Unmasked: Risk Communication of Pandemics and Influenza in Canada (McGill-Queen’s/Associated McGill-Queen's/Associated Medical Services ... of Medicine, Health, and Society) (Volume 35)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was the first global pandemic of the twenty-first century, spreading within weeks from southern China to over thirty-seven countries around the world. In Canada intense news media coverage had a profound impact on how the disease was perceived, with frontline health care workers, despite their heroic efforts, stigmatized due to their contact with patients. Will SARS or another pandemic influenza reoccur and, if it does, have we learned how to manage pandemics more effectively? In SARS Unmasked risk communication expert Michael Tyshenko offers answers to this and other questions. Cathy Peterson, who worked as a nurse clinician during the Toronto SARS crisis, adds an important view from the frontlines. Their analysis reveals an out-of-control situation with mixed risk communication messages, a lack of leadership, and an overwhelmed health care system that was unable to both cope with the crisis in Toronto and provide adequate support for their most valuable employees at the time - health care workers.Taking a very broad perspective, grounded in risk assessment, SARS Unmasked adds important information to what has already been said about the 2003 crisis, focusing on the human and societal effects of an infectious disease pandemic and providing tangible guidance for future pandemic threats. Contents Acknowledgments Preface Part One: SARS in Canada 1 SARS Timeline: What Happened When in Canada 2 Emergency Room Culture and Dealing with SARS 3 Properties of Coronaviruses and Factors Contributing to SARS Transmission 4 The SARS Experience 5 The Social Amplification of Risk and SARS as a Risk Issue 6 The Stigma of SARS and Its Effect on People and Places 7 The Need for Sex- and Gender-Sensitive Supports for Healthcare Workers During Infectious Disease Outbreaks 8 SARS Hospitals and Infectious Disease Response 9 Public SARS Reports – Recommendations from Expert Panels Part Two: Risk Communication and Pandemic Disease 10 Risk Communication of SARS in Canada 11 SARS and Risk Communication in Other Affected Countries 12 Avian Influenza 13 Emergency Preparedness for Future Pandemics: Lessons from SARS Appendix: SARS Timelines Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Will SARS or another pandemic influenza reoccur and, if it does, have we learned how to manage pandemics more effectively? In SARS Unmasked risk communication expert Michael Tyshenko offers answers to this and other questions. Cathy Paterson, who worked as a nurse clinician during the Toronto SARS crisis, adds an important view from the frontlines. Their analysis reveals an out-of-control situation with mixed risk communication messages, a lack of leadership, and an overwhelmed health care system that was unable to both cope with the crisis in Toronto and provide adequate support for their most valuable employees at the time - health care workers. This book reveals an out-of-control situation with mixed risk communication messages, a lack of leadership, and an overwhelmed health care system that was unable to both cope with the crisis in Toronto and provide adequate support for their most valuable employees at the time - health care workers. Taking a very broad perspective, grounded in risk assessment, this book adds important information to what has already been said about the 2003 crisis, focusing on the human and societal effects of an infectious disease pandemic and providing tangible guidance for future pandemic threats