1. Green space22 Clean sweep 23
Two years ago, Donna Dupont, Health Services
Management (HSM) ’05, became a trailblazer for
undergraduates in her field. She made the leap to a
position normally held by someone with a master’s
degree — Policy Analyst with the Primary Health
Care Development and Program Design Unit in the
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
With a first career as a Registered Respiratory Thera-
pist (RRT), Donna’s comprehensive background in
health care led to her unprecedented career move.
“She was a great candidate,” says Winston Isaac,
Donna’s former instructor and Director of the HSM
program. “She already had the clinical and techni-
cal experience; our program just added the manage-
ment skills.”
Before attending Ryerson, Donna worked as an RRT
at both Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and
Markham Stouffville Hospital. She thought about
upgrading her skills after becoming the primary
asthma educator at Markham Stouffville Hospital,
where she co-ordinated and provided strategic direc-
tion for the asthma education program. “My educa-
tional background was strictly in the health sciences.
I had never studied quality management, program
planning, design and evaluation — all the skills you
need to manage and strengthen a medical educa-
tional program,” says Donna.
For help, she looked to Ryerson’s HSM program,
which develops management and leadership skills
for health practitioners. Offered part-time, the pro-
gram enabled Donna to explore her options before
deciding to pursue a degree. Her mind was made up
by a pivotal course that provided an overview of the
Canadian health-care system. “I was totally amazed
and engrossed by the material. I have never experi-
enced that.”
As a student, Donna was further engaged in the
possibilities of health care when the HSM Alumni
Council chose her to be a representative at a U.S.
health policy educators’ conference. She found
her calling when the Ministry of Health and Long-
Term Care asked her stay on after completing her
final-year practicum.
Now, Donna assists in the development of policies
and programs related to primary health care. When
issues arise on the front line, policies often need
to be reviewed. Donna spends countless hours
researchingandwritingmaterialinanefforttomake
recommendations and help direct the decisions
of senior management. It’s a job with far-reaching
effects.
“When you develop [a policy], the decisions made
have the potential to impact thousands of people, if
not millions. Not only patients, but also physicians
and other health-care providers. To know your work
will have that level of impact is quite an incredible
feeling,” says Donna.
Most recently, she helped develop smoking cessa-
tion and diabetes information packages to assist
family physicians in providing care according to best
practices and established guidelines. This is the kind
of work she couldn’t imagine doing before attending
Ryerson. “My education provided the foundation
for what I’m doing now.”
The HSM program has helped health professionals
move up the career ladder, and not just into manage-
ment roles. “[The program] has widened students’
experience and opportunities,” says Dr. Isaac.
Students often pursue careers in the health-care,
education or corporate sectors, while others go on
to graduate school.
Today, Donna maintains strong ties to the univer-
sity by serving on the HSM Alumni Council, and
attending Ryerson events with colleagues. “They’re
a great group to learn from and share experiences
with — [being with them] is a wonderful opportunity
to network.”
Understandably, Ryerson is proud to call Donna
one of its own: “She realized that there’s a whole
world out there in health care and health manage-
ment,” says Dr. Isaac.
No time for
a breather
Former registered respiratory therapist
launches impressive second career
By Melanie Chambers, Journalism ‘01
Alumna Donna Dupont:
helping to improve primary health care, one policy and program at a time
Trailblazer22
Contrary to common belief, the world’s worst out-
break of disease was not the Black Death (bubonic
plague) of the Middle Ages, but the avian influenza
of 1918. This “bird flu” pandemic killed around 40
million people in a single year, as many as the Black
Death killed in an entire century. If the current
strain of avian influenza, H5N1, mutates to spread
effectively among humans, its death toll could be
even worse.
In public health, the term “case fatality (CF) rate”
refers to the risk of death among those with an ill-
ness. The CF rate for the 1918 influenza was 10 times
more lethal than the regular seasonal flu. H5N1,
however, appears 200 times more deadly, killing
more than half its human victims.
H5N1 is already the most severe avian influenza
in history, having killed hundreds of millions of
domestic and wild birds on three continents. We
don’t yet have a human H5N1 pandemic since only
258 people in 10 countries have become ill, mostly
from handling dead or sick birds. But among those
who contracted the virus, 153 have died.
Pandemics are caused when three factors combine:
a new flu strain develops to which the population
has no resistance, the virus has the capacity to cause
serious human illness and death, and the new strain
can spread quickly from person-to-person. In the
case of H5N1, the first and second conditions have
been met. The third may never appear or it might
develop tomorrow through the virus’s constant
mutation. While H5N1 has spread to family mem-
berscaringforillchildren,pandemicsrelyoncoughs
and sneezes for widespread transmission. Currently,
the virus doesn’t cause those symptoms, likely be-
cause the infection has remained deep in the lungs.
H5N1 resembles the 1918 virus, though, in some
symptoms and affected age group. The patient can
“drown” when the lungs fill with fluids often contain-
ing blood. Among those most at risk of the illness
are 16-to-26-year-olds; their immune systems may
respond too well to the infection, causing a massive
reaction in the lungs.
I worry that people will rely on pharmaceutical fixes.
After the virus starts spreading, vaccines will take at
least four months to prepare. Moreover, it’s unlikely
that antiviral drugs will be very effective or will be
given to patients early enough to have a real impact.
One-third of the population will probably be ill at
any time, and because others will stay home to care
for them, perhaps 60 per cent of all workers will be
away from their jobs. Most families will experience
some loss of life.
Advance planning is vital in any situation where
normal operations could be compromised or
suspended. In the event of an H5N1 pandemic,
Ryerson has plans to protect the community
and reduce the virus’s impact on campus.
Since frequent hand washing may prevent
the flu’s spread, hand-sanitizing units
have been set up in washrooms. Other
measures include improving online
communication so that some uni-
versity functions could continue,
even if public health officials
close the campus.
In the end, an H5N1 pan-
demic may never happen.
But if it does, we can
expect a different
world for a while.
Dr. Sly is a member of
Ryerson’s pandemic plan-
ning committee. Before
joining Ryerson in 1982, he
spent 14 years in the public
health field in the United Kingdom
(UK) and Canada. He has an MSc in epidemiology
from the faculty of medicine at the University of
Western Ontario and a PhD in risk studies from
the University of Teesside in the UK.
pandemic
The time to plan for bird flu is now
By Tim Sly, Professor in the School of Occupational and Public Health
Epidemiologist Tim Sly
In his own words
Preparing for a
GOOD ADVICEWHAT TO DO IN THE EVENT OF A PANDEMIC
• Wash hands thoroughly and frequently.
• Maintain a distance of two to three metres
when speaking with others.
• Avoid crowds (e.g. shopping malls, schools,
swimming pools, theatres, day-care centres).
23
Reproduction, republication or distribution of content and photographs from Ryerson University’s
Alumni magazine is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the Editor. © January 2007.
Reproduction, republication or distribution of content and photographs from Ryerson University’s
Alumni magazine is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the Editor. © January 2007.