We are trained to impose order upon chaos in a wide range of out-of-control situations. We have an incident management structure, smart and experienced emergency service warriors, and standardized templates to handle a structure fire with rescues, a tactical rescue challenge, a boiling cloud of an unknown vapor and a mass casualty event. The problem is that we sometimes become cannon fodder when we are not informed of unique and hazardous situations.
Get Educated
Toronto paramedics were mad when they learned that they transported Canada’s first coronavirus case through the news media:
Shortly after public health officials announced they had all but confirmed Canada’s first case of the coronavirus, in a man in his 50s currently recovering at Sunnybrook Hospital, TCEU Paramedic Services said the two paramedics that transported him had to find out about the severity of the situation by watching the news.
Toronto was one of the first western hemisphere cities to receive SARS patients in 2002. SARS appears to be a more deadly virus, and EMS was heavily impacted;
During the outbreak, Toronto EMS’s 850 paramedics had 1,166 potential SARS exposures; 436 were placed in a 10-day home quarantine, which meant being isolated from those persons within the home, continuously wearing an N95 respirator, and taking their temperature twice a day. SARS-like illnesses developed in 62 paramedics and suspected or probable SARS requiring hospitalization developed in 4 others.
This was a very different response than what the paramedic received in January 2020.
“But health officials say they followed standard procedure, and did not move to specifically notify the two paramedics that they likely transported someone suffering from coronavirus to hospital, because they were wearing full protective gear and were not at risk of contracting the illness themselves.
Properly Use Your Personal Protective Equipment
Two Texas nurses were infected while caring for the first Ebola patient treated in the United States in 2014. In the subsequent lawsuit settlement, it was revealed that the nurses used a mask, gown, shields, and gloves but it was not enough to avoid infection. It appeared that a “breach in protocol” caused the infection.
While never publically shared, speculation is that the exposure may have occurred during kidney dialysis or intubation, two invasive activities that have a higher risk of exposure.
“Official” Information Will Be Delayed, Incomplete and Erroneous
Fifteen years after EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said that the air around ground zero of the World Trade Center was safe, she makes an apology during an interview with the Guardian.
“Whatever we got wrong, we should acknowledge and people should be helped,” she said, adding that she still “feels awful” about the tragedy and its aftermath.
“I’m very sorry that people are sick,” she said. “I’m very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I’m sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had.”
It takes a while for formal organizations to both immediately respond and effectively analyze a unique or overwhelming situation. Unfortunately, we have examples of purposeful under-reporting of conditions until the hazard explodes beyond what the jurisdiction can control, such as the 2011 nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan.
Since 2001, the control of information on disasters is influenced by reducing the impact of terror on the general population, as K explains to Will Smith as he is recruited to be one of the Men In Black (1997 film)
For the 2020 Wuhan Coronavirus, social media posts as reported by the international media painted a picture of a much worse situation than was described by Chinese officials. As I write this Sunday night the Washington Post reports that the official number of infections in China soared 50% in one day.
It does not have to be an international incident, many of you have been on the frontlines of a dangerous event that was minimized by a jurisdiction or a corporation. We need to be our own informed advocates for firefighter and paramedic safety when confronted with new or unique situations. Your local or state health department probably has a response template for a pandemic, you should get a copy of it.
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Herhalt, Chris (2020 January 26) Paramedics union mad they weren’t told about coronavirus finding. CTV news. Accessed 1/26/2020 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/paramedics-union-mad-they-weren-t-told-about-coronavirus-finding-1.4783834
Silverman, Alexis; Andrew Simor and Mona R. Loutfy. (2004 September) Letter to the Editor: Toronto Emergency Medical Services and SARS. Emerging Infectious Diseases. (10) 9. pp 1688-1689. Accessed 1/26/2020 https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/9/pdfs/04-0170.pdf
Grinberg, Emanuella. (2016 October 24) Texas nurse who contracted Ebola settles hospital lawsuit. CNN. Accessed 1/26/2020 https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/24/health/nina-pham-ebola-hospital-lawsuit-settled/index.html
Walters, Joanna (2016, September 10) Former EPA head admits she was wrong to tell New Yorkers post-9/11 air was safe. The Guardian. Accessed 1/26/2020 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/10/epa-head-wrong-911-air-safe-new-york-christine-todd-whitman
Scanlon, Joseph (2009) Research about Mass Media and Disaster: Never (Well Hardly Ever) The Twain Shall Meet. Disciplines, Disasters, and Emergency Management Textbook. Washington, DC: FEMA Emergency Management Institute. Accessed 1/26/2020 https://training.fema.gov/hiedu/docs/emt/scanlonjournalism.pdf
Featured image: (2020 January 24) Cayman Islands Closely Monitoring Coronavirus Outbreak in China. Cayman Times