Lessons learned from Katrina, 9/11, SARS, and other disasters
LOW: Well, it was surprising that people continued to come to work, despite hearing that their colleagues were coming down with disease. And one of the major concerns that they expressed again was they were willing to put themselves at risk, but they were afraid about taking it home to their families. And we had a particular situation at one of our hospitals where a physician that had SARS was being admitted to the ICU and a very difficult intubation that took a couple of hours actually and fifteen people were involved in that, and nine of them came down with SARS. Nine healthcare workers in the ICU, despite using what we told them were precautions that were going to protect them. And I remember that it was Good Friday evening. We had a conference call and we really thought on Monday morning that we would have no ICU staff across the city. And they showed up, and they continued to show up. We had transmission in our SARS unit in our hospital between a healthcare worker and one of the teacher educators. And having to go around that day personally and sit down with staff and say this is what happened; we're going to try to make it better; and we'll do all we can. And they continued to show up for work. So it just amazed me how resilient and willing to – you know, I mean, that's what they're doing. This is their job. And willing to do it was really exceptional.
SHUTE: What long-term effects have you seen from that experience?
LOW: There has been a lot of burnout, a lot of people that haven't gone back to – not an excessive number, but there has been – we've seen it. But fortunately, I think it's a small percentage, considering the number of people that either got sick or friends or colleagues that got sick that it is something that we've gotten over.
SHUTE: And Dr. Weisfuse, how about you with your double-whammy of 9/11 and then anthrax? How did your staff respond and did you have to take any special measures for them?
WEISFUSE: You know, I think one of the problems is that we tried to do a lot. We kept our basic public health clinics open throughout, so our TB clinics, our STD clinics, our restaurant inspections to some degree. So we kept a lot of balls in the air. I think there was, especially on the leadership perspective, a fair amount of burnout. Adrenaline will only get you so far, and I think we were sort of on the run for a couple months I think before we could sort of take a deep breath and try to get some perspective. But I want to talk a little bit about the hospital issue. I mean, one of the things that we've done in conjunction with Bellevue Hospital is actually set up a course on medical and hospital issues around terrorism. And it's really meant for, not necessarily for physicians but other folks in the hospital, in the hope that the more we can educate the people who run the cafeteria, the nurses, the orderlies, every level in the hospital, the more they are going to feel comfortable and understand what their duty is. So I am not as pessimistic as some about people not showing up. I think that that will happen, but I think there is a sense that people do come to the fore for an emergency as you saw in Toronto, New Orleans, and as happened in 9/11 – if they understand it, and they understand that people are trying to take whatever precautionary measures they can.
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