A Personal Journey in the World of SARS
Georgina Veldhorst-Witteveen, Calvin College Class of 1990
Calvin College Spark
Summer 2004

February 23, 2004, was the one-year anniversary of the arrival of the deadly virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to North America. As the many significant anniversaries related to this crisis pass, I find myself reflecting on the traumatic events of this last year, when health care professionals had to confront this disease we knew very little about.

Most people listen to the evening news and then rest their minds from the day’s disasters, until they are reminded of them in casual conversation. For many people, SARS was just that—a distant disaster. For health care professionals around the world, the crisis’ impact was more significant because the rules about relationships to patients changed dramatically. For the health care professionals in the Greater Toronto area, however, SARS was a serious, deadly enemy that had to be fought with every resource at hand.

When SARS arrived in Toronto, I was an executive in an addictions and mental health center and was focused on ensuring that our particularly vulnerable population was safe from it. At the time little was known about the disease, other than the troubling fact that health care workers were at immediate risk. I also worried about contracting SARS and taking it home to my family. However, as we learned more about the illness, my anxiety level decreased.

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