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Oct. 19: Peter Macintyre, Manager of EMS in Toronto
Up one levelPeter Macintyre saw in 2003 how much damage could be inflicted upon a city by an outbreak of an unusual and unexpected contagious disease. In March of that year, 375 Canadians became ill during an outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Toronto. Almost half the cases were among health care workers, and four of them died. The total Canadian death toll was 44. “This relatively small outbreak devastated the economy of Canada’s largest city and extracted a significant toll on the physical and emotional well-being of thousands of health care workers and their families,” says MacIntyre, the manager for Community Safeguard Services for Toronto EMS.There are lessons from the SARS outbreak that may be applied in preparing for pandemic, Macintyre says. He will share the insights that are guiding Toronto’s EMS planning. “And it’s not a question of ‘Will there be a pandemic?,’” Macintyre says, “but, ‘When will there be a pandemic?’” The lecture is set for Oct. 19 in the Bush Library Theater, beginning at 6 p.m. with a reception at 5:30 p.m.
