Toronto EMS Worker Recovering From SARS

"It's been a challenge," said England, who spent 10 days in strict isolation at the hospital and is now going into his second week of home quarantine. "My wife was isolated at home. We were just like lepers in the community," he said.

England, 52, is a 28-year veteran of the Toronto ambulance service. He said his contact with SARS is ironic because he spent the past several years in an office job, and had just transferred back to a position with the crews on the streets when he was exposed to the new virus. "This was my first night shift in four years and I come across that," he said.

For three nights in a row, between March 16 and 18, England was in and out of Scarborough Grace Hospital where a number of SARS patients were taken and treated. At the time, "We knew there were some gravely ill people but we didn't know why," he said. Emergency responders had not yet begun wearing face masks at that time.

England most likely contracted the virus at the hospital. "Someone must have coughed in the emergency room," he said. He went 11 days without symptoms, but a few of his crew members were hospitalized, and then on March 28th he started getting a fever and chills.

England said he hadn't been concerned about getting SARS himself, he was just concerned for his crew members, so the illness came as a surprise. "I just didn't feel good," he said. "I knew I was sick but I didn't know what it was."

Only six hours passed between his first symptoms and the time he was hospitalized at the Rouge Valley Health System's site in Ajax. "It just hit me like a 2 by 4 over the head," he said.

He called work to tell them he would be out sick, and before he knew it, emergency responders were at his door. "It seemed like I had just hung the phone up, and the local firemen and ambulance came, whisked me out, and took me in the back door of the hospital," he said.

England said the only way that he and his wife Kathy, who was also quarantined as a precaution, have made it through their isolation is with the support of his coworkers, because most of their friends and neighbors are frightened of them. Kathy is now out of quarantine, but the couple still needs help sometimes because she has fibromyalgia and can't take care of some tasks, such as clearing their property after they got 8-9 inches of snow and ice in a recent storm. Their mail delivery was cut off until England's coworkers came to clean the area around the mailbox.

"What worries me is what about the people out there who didn't have the support of the emergency services?" England said. "Who's looking after them? Can they get milk?"

England said neighbors have been kinder ever since an article came out in the Toronto Star about their plight. "People have dropped off parcels and then run off," he said.

England said one of the worst things about this illness is that he can't be around his wife of 30 years or he will risk infecting her. "I miss my wife," he said. "The woman you love, and you can't give her a hug."

Although the two are in the same house, England has to wear a mask when he's near her, he uses separate eating utensils, a separate phone, and has to wipe the bathroom down with alcohol. He has finished one week of quarantine, and has another week to go. He still has pneumonia and gets short of breath, and expects he will need about a month to recover.

England had nothing but praise for Toronto's medical staff and emergency workers. "The medical staff in the hospitals have been incredibly kind," he said. He said paramedics, firefighters and nurses have been volunteering their services to cover for those who are ill or in quarantine and to look after all the patients. England said Toronto Fire, a separate agency, has helped the ambulance service cover their medical calls while they were short on staff. "We were in trouble, and our counterparts in fire came to our aid," he said. "The only reason we're surviving is because of the front line people."

Despite this experience, England is anxious to get back to work with the EMS crews on the streets of Toronto. "That's where my heart is," he said. He also contracted meningitis on the job many years ago from an infant that he treated. "It's a risk with the job. Look at the firemen," he said.

England compared SARS to Polio and AIDS, and said he is concerned about the spread of the virus. "I don't know if we've seen the end to this," he said. "There's a health care crisis going on and I think it could be worldwide in a heartbeat."

According to a Canadian Press article, the province of Ontario has borne the brunt of the disease's assault on Canada, with 251 probable and suspect cases as of Thursday. All of the 13 SARS deaths in Canada have taken place in the Toronto area. Internationally, the World Health Organization is reporting 3,389 cases with 165 deaths.

Related: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: SARS info page