Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.examiner.com/a-1482580~H...nds_lessons_to_Maryland_health_officials.html
Hong Kong?s SARS response lends lessons to Maryland health officials
Jul 11, 2008 3:00 AM (3 hrs ago) by Sara Michael, The Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - At the height of the SARS outbreak in Asia, one hospital in Hong Kong bore the country?s brunt of the epidemic, dedicating the entire facility to the deadly, fast-spreading disease.
Five years later, the hospital can serve as a model for local health officials preparing for a pandemic flu outbreak ? or even day-to-day operations.
?There are lessons in how they handled that,? said John Spearman, vice president of the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.
?These guys have been through it.?
For the first in a series of global health lectures, Shock Trauma hosted Adela Shuet-Fun Lai, general manager of nursing for Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong, to relive the preparation and aftermath of the SARS outbreak.
SARS, a viral respiratory illness, begins with a high fever and symptoms can include headache, overall feeling of discomfort, body aches and a dry cough. Some patients have diarrhea, and most develop pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With a few days? notice in 2003, Princess Margaret officials were told they would become Hong Kong?s dedicated SARS hospital.
As health officials worldwide scrambled to contain SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome, Lai and her staff rushed to shore up the building.
Non-SARS patients were transferred by ambulance to other hospitals. Air cleaners and vents were set up to produce negative pressure in the patients? rooms to avoid airborne contamination. Rooms were rearranged, information packets drafted, and a control center staffed for the latest SARS updates.
The entire hospital was reorganized so those infected with SARS entered in one area and those cleared of the infection exited the other, Lai said.
Hospital officials set up video conferencing for the quarantined patients to visit with their families.
Staff members were covered head to toe in caps, goggles, face masks and shields, gloves and shoe covers.
?A very simple task takes a long time to do,? Lai said, adding that communication was hampered between staff.
In four months starting in late February 2003, nearly 800 people died and more than 8,000 people worldwide became sickened with SARS, according to the World Health Organization.
Now, Princess Margaret officials have built a 108-bed infectious disease center designed with the demands of the SARS outbreak in mind. Emergency plans are in place and staff trained in the case of another outbreak, Lai said.
These preparations could serve Maryland hospitals well in planning, Spearman said.
?All of those issues are issues we will face,? he said.
smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com
Hong Kong?s SARS response lends lessons to Maryland health officials
Jul 11, 2008 3:00 AM (3 hrs ago) by Sara Michael, The Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - At the height of the SARS outbreak in Asia, one hospital in Hong Kong bore the country?s brunt of the epidemic, dedicating the entire facility to the deadly, fast-spreading disease.
Five years later, the hospital can serve as a model for local health officials preparing for a pandemic flu outbreak ? or even day-to-day operations.
?There are lessons in how they handled that,? said John Spearman, vice president of the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.
?These guys have been through it.?
For the first in a series of global health lectures, Shock Trauma hosted Adela Shuet-Fun Lai, general manager of nursing for Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong, to relive the preparation and aftermath of the SARS outbreak.
SARS, a viral respiratory illness, begins with a high fever and symptoms can include headache, overall feeling of discomfort, body aches and a dry cough. Some patients have diarrhea, and most develop pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With a few days? notice in 2003, Princess Margaret officials were told they would become Hong Kong?s dedicated SARS hospital.
As health officials worldwide scrambled to contain SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome, Lai and her staff rushed to shore up the building.
Non-SARS patients were transferred by ambulance to other hospitals. Air cleaners and vents were set up to produce negative pressure in the patients? rooms to avoid airborne contamination. Rooms were rearranged, information packets drafted, and a control center staffed for the latest SARS updates.
The entire hospital was reorganized so those infected with SARS entered in one area and those cleared of the infection exited the other, Lai said.
Hospital officials set up video conferencing for the quarantined patients to visit with their families.
Staff members were covered head to toe in caps, goggles, face masks and shields, gloves and shoe covers.
?A very simple task takes a long time to do,? Lai said, adding that communication was hampered between staff.
In four months starting in late February 2003, nearly 800 people died and more than 8,000 people worldwide became sickened with SARS, according to the World Health Organization.
Now, Princess Margaret officials have built a 108-bed infectious disease center designed with the demands of the SARS outbreak in mind. Emergency plans are in place and staff trained in the case of another outbreak, Lai said.
These preparations could serve Maryland hospitals well in planning, Spearman said.
?All of those issues are issues we will face,? he said.
smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com