Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to two hospitals. Canadian health officials had insufficient trusted data and therefore
were, rightfully, embarrassed. Inefficiencies and arguments over less pressing issues,
including doctors and nurses crossing borders, ultimately, obstructed productive
aid.
Places with regional health authorities, such as british columbia, seemed
to perform better than the local health authorities did in ontario. Singapore also
did very well in terms of the magnitude of people affected and was able to get a
few things right. there, health authorities designated one hospital to take care of
all SarS patients. that institution provided a seamless liaison with public health
operations. authorities were able to trace all patients' contacts within 24 hours of each
admission, and the minister of health was the spokesperson. He held regular daily
press briefings and shared the facts, uncertainties, and potential worst-case scenarios
with the public, as well as provided concrete suggestions of how Singaporeans could
protect themselves.
In canada, by contrast, there were multiple sites and rotating public health
officials, clinicians, and politicians all appearing at different times and delivering
mixed messages. admittedly, a city-state such as Singapore offers some advantages
regarding the centralisation of decision making that canada's multi-layered system
does not offer. nevertheless, in an emergency situation, it is necessary that canadian
municipal, provincial, and federal governments speak with one voice and be clear
about who is responsible for what. It is unacceptable that in canada—a country
that has developed leading technology in mobile communication—healthcare
authorities and citizens were not better able to communicate with individual
physicians or front-line workers. these are the issues that should remain a concern
for the public, and changes have been made in this regard. licensing boards in all
provinces and territories now require physicians to supply their contact information
in case of an emergency, which is certainly a preliminary improvement in terms of
communication. More generally, since 2001 initiatives have focussed on restructuring
the communication channels among federal and provincial governments, the media,
and the public. Federal communications were generally reactive (as Health canada
waited for the latest press conference in ontario); in turn, provincial communications
were frequently disorganised, and crisis communication to the public was similarly
unacceptable. consequently, the national advisory committee on SarS and Public
Health immediately proposed a number of changes in the collaboration between the
federal, provincial, and territorial levels of government and the media, including
the possibility of a comprehensive training programme for crisis communication
similar to that designed by the centers for Disease control and Prevention (cDc) in
the United States (national advisory committee 2003).
although some progress has been made in canada, there remains a dire need to
improve two-way accountability—the kind of communication that allows people
to report and receive the type of data that, during the SarS crisis, was changing
three times a day. throughout that period, health authorities were continually
reassessing whether the mode of virus transmission or the incubation period or the
other essential factors were changing, yet the dissemination of up-to-the-minute
 
 
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