Better prepared next time?

In an article in the Toronto Sun, “Risk of another SARS-like outbreak: report,” it reports that there is potential risk in Ontario, similar to the outbreak in Canada in 2003. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/01/10/3277539-sun.html However, unlike 2003, the government is preparing for the risk of a potential outbreak. According to “Justice Archie Campbell's report, entitled Spring of Fear [sic], notes that many of the recommendations he made in two interim reports have yet to be implemented. Campbell says the province is better prepared today than it was in 2003, but much remains to be done” (Artuso, 2007).
Because of the unlikely crisis in 2003, the Canadian government was not prepared adequately. But this time there is no excuse for not being prepared now, as Campbell commented, “SARS taught us lessons that can help us redeem our failures," he says in his report. "If we do not learn the lessons to be taken from SARS, however, if we do not make present governments fix the problems that remain, we will pay a terrible price in the face of future outbreaks of virulent disease" (Artuso, 2007).
What was a crisis in 2003, has prompted the Canadian government to be prepared for the risk of another outbreak, and have better communication plans in order. According to the article, “Campbell's report does not blame any person, group or government but points to systemic failures in communication, infection control and worker safety that left the province ill-prepared for the outbreak” (Artuso, 2007). One of the major communication breakdowns was that health care workers were not adequately informed about how to protect themselves from contracting the disease, thus spreading it among doctors and nurse and their families.
Obviously, a crisis communication plan, and proper risk communication is essential for any government, especially when it comes to health issues and matters of public safety. This fits into Ulmer et al.’s definition of crisis, “An organizational crisis is specific, unexpected, and nonroutine event or series of events that create high levels of uncertainy and threaten or are perceived to threaten an organization’s high-priority goals” (2007, p. 7).
Now that the Canadian government is aware of the risk of a SARS II outbreak, they must construct a risk communication plan, because that was one of their self-assessed failures in 2003. According Lundgrin and McMakin, “Risk management usually begins with a risk assessment. Just how dangerous is the risk? […] Risk assessment is a scientific process that characterizes the risk and assesses the probability of occurrence and outcome” (p. 6-7). Those in charge of the assessment will ask certain questions to get at the heart of how dangerous the risk, its probability, and who or what will be effected by it. After the assessment is completed, the results will determine what will be done to prevent a crisis.
Once the risk has been identified, Ulmer et al suggests being mindful to the changing dynamics of the specific situation and risk that has been identified. They say, “Mindfulness requires us to constantly adapt our perceptual skills to account for the ever-changing world around us. […] To do so, we must be willing to see new categories of problems and solutions, rather than forcing the evidence we observe to fit into existing categories we have been taught” (2007, p. 157). Thinking outside of the box is critical to preventing crisis. Even though in the case of the Canadian SARS outbreak, it would have been hard to see the outbreak coming, now there is no excuse for anyone not to see a disease spread from halfway across the globe. It has happened before, and a good risk identification plan considers past cases of crises, and also think about what may be unlikely, but possible. In Canada, a SARS outbreak of that size was unlikely, but it always was possible.
Since I am not an expert on health communication, and some of my classmates seem to have a large body of knowledge in this area, what do you believe should be done to develop an effective risk communication plan in Ontario? What kinds of lessons can be learned from SARS to help prevent SARS II? What does this mean for other parts of the world? How should their health departments and governments react to the possibility of this crisis? Is anyone aware of similar efforts for prevention in the United States? I have heard quite a bit about Bird Flu in the last couple of years, but not as much about SARS since all of the problems in 2003.