Nancy Morris introduced our guest speaker for the evening. Joy has been with the Public Health Agency of Canada since 2005, where she started in an administrative position before moving into her current role as Community Liaison Program Officer. As part of the Community Relations team, Joy provides tours for national and international visitors who are visiting the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health. Over the past 10 years, Joy has conducted more than 1,000 tours. The top highlight is the work done at Canada’s only Level 4 containment facility.
Joy also helps to coordinate outreach events such as career fairs, high school presentations and public speaking requests for scientists and researchers. She additionally provides orientation sessions to all new employees and produces a monthly feature highlighting individual staff.
Previous to her work with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Joy spent 15 years in the educational field, working with a variety of private institutions and government funded programs including Canada World Youth, the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina), the Youth Internship Program (funded through Human Resources Development Canada). She has also taught in the public-school system to both elementary and secondary students.
Joy originally hails from Saskatchewan where she obtained her B.A. (English) at the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Regina with a specialty in Arts Education.
The National Microbiology Building (NMB) recently held its 20th anniversary by holding an open house event. The building opened in June of 1999. This is the only Level 4 lab in Canada. It is the first to have both animal and human research in one facility. The announcement that the building was to be developed in Winnipeg came in 1997 with Smith-Carter as the architects. The first order of business from that date of announcement was to engage the community. Tell them what will be going on in the building and what protective measures will be built into the structure.
On the animal side of the activities being done in the facility, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) researches infectious diseases found in animals. The last Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in Canada was in 1952. If this was to occur again, the blow to the economy would be huge. No beef exports. The agency will respond to any outbreaks.
The building was constructed on the site of an old asphalt plant. At the time of construction, Canada had a Level 3 lab in Ottawa, no Level 4 in the country. It is a high security building that started with 150 employees and now has 500. The reason for the growth has been the number of disease outbreaks. Examples such as SARS, H1N1, West Nile, Zika. The lab does research on existing viruses as well as emerging disease.
There is a second building being used due to all the research and space demands. The J.C. Wilt Infectious Diseases Building focuses research on enteric diseases and is linked to other labs. They work on cases like the romaine lettuce contamination, flour contamination. This lab would send out an alert for these food items.
Zoonotic disease is when a disease is passed from an animal to human. The #1 killer of humans by an animal is the mosquito. They carry diseases such as malaria, West Nile and Yellow Fever.
The main building, NMB, across from HSC works in unison with hospital labs, provincial lab then passed on to the NMB if the case /disease justifies it for identification.
The Lab is;
1.Reference Lab
2. Surveillance / track disease
3. Research – a paper a day is published from the work in the lab
4. Leadership – protect the health of Canadians. There are only 20 to 25 labs like this in the world
5. Preparedness / response – H1N1 was sequenced here from material samples from Mexico. The lab provides advice ie. sneeze into your elbow, not hands.
The building has different lab levels in it.
Level 2:
- The base level – have developed vaccines for most of the diseases used in this level.
- Work is done in a biosafety cabinet / air is circulated out.
- All material is placed in a biohazard bag and autoclaved and then shredded.
- White lab coat is worn, this stays in the lab.
- Wash hands when leaving.
Level 3:
- T.B., West Nile, Respiratory diseases
- Biosafety cabinet
- 2 pair of gloves worn; duct taped to suit.
- Tyvek suit is worn with a respirator.
- Negative air space in lab. There is no air loss from the lab.
Level 4:
- Work on diseases such as Ebola.
- Every precaution is taken. Hold public meetings.
- Sophisticated filtration systems
- Negative airflow of -150 pascals, segmented as they enter lab space.
- Positive air pressure suit with respirator.
- There will never be any shifting and cracking of the box in a box lab design. Low shrink concrete used; caissons placed in foundation.
- HEPA filtration with 2 HEPA filtration systems for air leaving.
- Liquid or solid waste is held in holding tanks of 6,500 litres. Facility treats 5 million litres of this per year.
- Remove street clothing, then shower and lab under clothing worn, then suit to enter.
- Chemical treatment of the suit after use.
Community Engagement:
- Career fairs
- Ambassadors to schools
- There are few opportunities to get into the secure building. Only on anniversaries. On the recent 20th anniversary there were 3,000 people that attended. This is 2 times the number that came for the last open house.
- There was a Community Liaison Committee created in 1999 to this day, consisting of a doctor, lawyer, nurse and community representative. They meet 4 times a year.
- Relay all incidents back to the community. From something as simple as a fall in the parking lot to a shut down of the air flow.
The lab will deploy teams for outbreaks of disease.
Joy showed a video of what one has to do in order to enter the Level 4 Lab. Very extensive and thorough separation of the outside world and the inside of the Level 4 Lab:
- There are 8 points of security guarding the lab
- Air pressure drops as you advance through the entry steps.
- Change clothes, take off everything you were not born with.
- Two pairs of gloves on the person duct taped to clothing. Then the suit with another pair of sealed on gloves – working with 3 pairs of gloves on.
- Integrity test of the suit due to the chemicals used to clean it.
This is all done because the Level 4 Lab holds items like the Ebola Virus, 1919 Spanish Flu – this killed 100 million people worldwide. These are held in a locked freezer that only 3 people have a key for.
An air disconnect in the lab is a scary thing for some people. You have approximately 2 minutes of usable air in the suit itself. The chemical used to clean is called ‘Microchem’ (like Lysol). The ‘Microchem’ will kill Ebola Virus on contact. There is a 5 minute shower of the suit.
Q/A
1.- John Borst asked a 3 point question.
i. How Winnipeg got chosen
ii. What is the pay range in the lab
iii. How long are people allowed to stay in the Level 4 Lab in a stretch.
- i.- Winnipeg is central in North America. Jake Epp was the Minister of Health at the time. Winnipeg lost the Bombardier contract.
ii.- There are many different types of employment in the lab. Pay can range from $45,000 to $121,000.
iii.- 5 hours max. Most will only stay for 3 hours.
2. Bob Antymniuk wished to know what happened to the food testing lab that closed?
A.- It was unfunded by the previous government.
3. Darvin Jasper asked how the yearly Flu vaccine is chosen?
A.- The ‘WHO’ decides / recommends from their findings by tracking what is happening around the globe – Asia mainly.
4.- How close is the relationship between the Winnipeg Level 4 Lab and the USA CDC Lab?
A. Very close relationship.
5. Ed Thompson wondered if the lab was following or investigating the hog disease in China. African Swine Fever.
A. The lab personnel are following the disease and are on top of it working with other countries.
Roh Goenka thanked Joy Stadnichuk for her very informative presentation. She was advised that a donation in her name will be made to ShelterBox.
