As the number of cases of Ebola continues to rise, health officials maintain the risk to Canadians remains low. However, health officials are working to ensure the proper supports are in place if a Canadian is diagnosed with the deadly virus.
An Ebola rapid response team was deployed from Ottawa to Halifax on Sunday to conduct a practice drill that would simulate the process that would unfold if a case of Ebola were to be confirmed on Canadian soil.
The drill was a joint exercise between the Public Health Agency of Canada and Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness.
“Drills, dry runs and practicing are important to ensuring that our teams are able to respond without hesitation in the event of a case of Ebola,” says federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose.
Monday morning, the team met with more than a dozen Public Health officials, including Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief public officer of health.
“The whole concept of these rapid response deployment teams is very new,” says Strang.
He says the concept is so new that some of the team members hadn’t even met before, but that the drill generated a good discussion with local Public Health workers.
“They worked through the details of what would happen in the event of a case in their province and had productive discussions about how the rapid response team could best help them,” says Dr. Gregory Taylor, Canada’s chief public health officer.
The exercise followed a similar one that took place in Ottawa on Friday, which tested the teams’ ability to assemble with the proper gear and equip one of the dedicated aircraft.
There are four designated aircraft, two planes located in Winnipeg and two in Ottawa, loaded with key equipment and ready to take off at a moment’s notice to move the rapid response team quickly, anywhere in Canada.
Strang believes there’s a good plan in place and now the focus needs to be on screening people as they enter the health-care system, as well as practice on the front lines.
“Certainly the experience with Ebola recently has shown us that while we have the right types of personal protective equipment and infection control protocols, it’s practice, and where the mistakes happen is actually the use, especially the putting on and taking off of the personal protective equipment,” he says.
Ambrose says the trials are a significant step forward in shared emergency response planning.
“It was an important confidence-building measure for not only our own team, but for the local Halifax Public Health officials also,” she says.
If Canada were to confirm its first case of Ebola:
• One of five available teams would be deployed to work with local authorities to prevent further spread. Each team consists of seven subject matter experts: a team lead, a field epidemiologist, an infection control expert, a biosafety expert, a laboratory expert, a communications expert, and a logistics expert
• The teams would work with local officials to ensure all containment protocols are followed, ensure proper use and removal of protective equipment and provide any supplies from the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile that are required (such as masks, gloves and face shields)
• Vials of Canada’s experimental Ebola vaccine would be sent to the affected hospital
Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned Canadians on Saturday not to be complacent about the Ebola virus.
"What has happened recently with Ebola reminds us that in an age of globalization and particularly global trade and travel, what was a problem that was at one time far away from us could arrive at our shores very quickly," he said.
Canada will begin shipping its experimental Ebola vaccine to the WHO on Monday for possible use in the hardest-hit West African countries.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster and CTVNews.ca
