news
Newsstand: January 2, 2015
It's the new year! And since most of us were either tired or, ahem, feeling unwell yesterday, let's just pretend today's the first day. What a great year so far. In the news: a roundup of the top 10 stories from Toronto last year, a father delivers his own daughter, and a local infectious disease doctor has been helping fight Ebola in Liberia.
CBC Toronto has put together a list of the top 10 local news stories from 2014. It’s all there, from Jian Ghomeshi to John Tory, Rob Ford’s health to the TTC leprechaun. Even former Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley’s substance abuse is included. Take a look back at frost quakes, an airport security breach during the World Cup, and a Porsche worth nearly $1 million going up in flames.
As he drove his wife to the hospital to deliver their third child, Toronto father Alex heard his wife Anna say they wouldn’t have time, so he pulled over and delivered the baby himself. Alex called 911 and the dispatcher talked him through the process. Alex, Anna, and the as-yet-unnamed baby girl are all healthy.
Allison McGeer, who helped lead Toronto through 2003’s SARS crisis both as Mount Sinai Hospital’s director of infection control and as an infection consultant at Scarborough Grace Hospital, says the generosity of health workers around the world during her time of need influenced her decision to offer her own help with the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. McGeer initially travelled to Liberia in September, as that country’s epidemic was at its peak. She has since spent about eight weeks there, assisting in the containment and treatment effort. Since the outbreak began, Liberia has seen around 8,000 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of the disease, and there have been 3,400 deaths. Liberia is on track to quash indigenous cases of Ebola by May or June, and McGeer says her experience with SARS in Toronto has her remaining optimistic about Liberia’s chances.