October 2003   In This Issue...   Front Page   Argentina   Canada   Europe   Finland   Hong Kong   Ireland   South Africa Regulatory   Update Research   Review Interact   Survey Questions   Member Exchange     Forum Feedback	Hong Kong: Much Work Remains After SARS Stanley Lau, M.S.W., General Manager, Employee Development Service, Hong Kong Over the past few months, Hong Kong and a number of countries (especially in Asia) have been in a very tough situation caused by the outbreak of atypical pneumonia, also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 8,000 people are or have been infected with SARS, resulting in more than 800 deaths worldwide. Before Hong Kong’s announcement of its outbreak on 16 March 2003, there had already been a lot of discussion among medical professionals about the growing incidence of atypical pneumonia in the Chinese province of Guangdong. With the announcement and the subsequent news coverage, Hong Kong’s citizens began to recognize the insidious capacity of the virus to spread and kill. Slowly but surely, SARS began to eat away at the fabric of our normal daily lives. The impact has been felt particularly by businesses, as countless small firms have declared bankruptcy and large ones have suffered big losses. Immediately after WHO’s April 2 warning against travel to Hong Kong and South China, hundreds of business-related activities were canceled. With few tourists willing to set foot in Hong Kong and South China, conference organizers called off their events, businesses put meetings on hold, and families canceled their bookings for Easter vacation trips. It is understandable that people are reacting so strongly because we don’t know exactly how the virus spreads or whether there is a danger of a global epidemic. For businesses, however, these debates are almost beside the point. The fear factor alone is enough to inflict economic devastation. As an external EAP provider, Employee Development Service has experienced difficulties from SARS, too. Employee Development Service serves approximately 70 multi-national and local corporations in Hong Kong and China. Since the outbreak, we have had to cancel or postpone dozens of training programs because managers of corporations and their employees fear exposure to the virus in a crowded training room. We have called off a public seminar because we were obliged to spend 10 days in a hotel upon our arrival in Shanghai and another 10 days at home after our return to Hong Kong. The two work-based child care centers that we manage for our client organizations have been closed temporarily to avoid transmitting the virus among the children. Our gross income has dropped significantly. In the wake of the outbreak announcement, the number of visits for counseling dropped. Some employees called in and asked to postpone their appointments or requested to speak to our counselors over the phone. However, inquiries about managing anxiety and depression and new cases relating to mental health problems and stress have increased. Most of our client corporations have set up crisis management plans and activated task forces to monitor the development of SARS in and around their companies. We, in turn, have focused on assisting management and human resources professionals in overseeing the psychological aspects of their employees. Feedback from counseling sessions and inquiries has revealed that many employees have strong concerns about the potential risks of SARS transmission in the office, contacts with customers, and anxiety and depression induced by SARS. Therefore, we switched the themes of our publication to talk about SARS and anxiety. In our consultations with management, we taught them how to manage the strong emotions of employees and encouraged them to show their support when a staff member is suspected of being infected and is required to be put under quarantine. By the end of June, the WHO had lifted travel advisories for cities in the region (with the exception of parts of China and Taiwan). People in Hong Kong walked the streets, families went out to dinner, and tourists returned. Everything seemed to be normal again. However, there are still a group of individuals who are suffering from mood disorders, and many people have lost their jobs. It is thought that a lot of work remains to be done to help affected individuals return to a steady state. DISCUSSION (Member Exchange Forum)   Back Issues   Top of Page   Contact EAPA   © 2003 Exhange On-Line is a publication of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association, Inc. (EAPA). Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is expressly prohibited. Publication of bylined articles does not constitute endorsement of personal views of authors. Appearance of paid advertisements does not constitute endorsement by EAPA.	Vol. 1    No. 2