Mesa County Medical Society Haiti Earthquake
If you or members of your staff are interested in assisting with the response in Haiti, through the Mesa County Health Department we have a few options:
Mesa County Medical Society:
WE NEED YOUR HELP
It is estimated that as many as three million people may have been affected by the Haiti earthquake and the death toll may reach into the tens of thousands. Haitians, most of whom already live on less that $2 a day, are now contending with recovery from the strongest earthquake the region has seen in more than 200 years.
Medical Reserve Corps (medical and non-medical):
Currently, the MRC is not being deployed. However, given the devastation and impending need for assistance, we would like to encourage preparation for deployment. Please take the following steps:
1. Notify Marsha Thorson if you are interested in helping.
2. Register on the Colorado Volunteer Mobilizer (CVM) at https://covolunteers.state.co.us/VolunteerMobilizer/ or click here for a hardcopy application.
3. Complete two online courses, IS-100a and IS-700a and provide copies of completion certificates to Marsha Thorson. These courses can be accessed for free through Co.Train (http://www.co.train.org). If you would prefer to take the course in a traditional classroom setting, please let me know and we can pull a class together quickly.
4. Please forward this information to anyone who has an interest.
Marsha Thorson, MSPH
MRC & Volunteer Coordinator
Mesa County Medical Reserve Corps
Mesa County Health Department
(970) 248-6976
MRC@mesacounty.us
More information at: http://health.mesacounty.us/volunteer/index.cfm
Altered Standards of Care
History suggests that influenza pandemics have probably occurred during at least the last four centuries. Since 1900, three pandemics and several "pandemic threats" have occurred at unpredictable intervals and with widely varying severity.
Healthcare professionals will be faced with trying to balance their basic standards of practice; code of ethics to provide care and protect the public from harm; competencies and values with competing obligations to protecting their own health, family and friends and working in an extremely stressful environment where there are too many ill and too few resources. It is in the best interest of the community to address the ethical considerations of such a disaster now in order to establish standards that can be universally applied.
The 85-page “Guidance for Alterations in the Healthcare System During an Influenza Pandemic” document has been drafted and is available for review and comment. Click here to access the two-page executive summary.
A one-hour presentation about this document was provided by PJ Havice from the Colorado Medical Society on December 3, 2008. The presentation slides are available for viewing.
Please contact Marsha Thorson at marsha.thorson@mesacounty.us or
970-248-6976 to receive the full document to participate in this “open for comment” review.
Pandemic Planning
Pandemic Influenza Planning- Medical Office Business Preparedness 
(367 kb/21 pages)
July 16, 2007 - Double Tree Hotel
Thea Chase
Assistant Professor of Business
Mesa State College
St. Mary's Hospital 28th Annual Medical Education Symposium
(8.20 mb/234 pages)
May 19, 2007 - Pandemic Influenza Presentations
Dr. Lisa Miller
Dr. William Lockwood
Dr. Michael Aduddell
Sue Kiser
CDC Site Visit to Mesa County Health Department
(6.10 mb/158 pages)
April 4, 2007 - Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Presentations
Greg Rajnowski
Nanci Quintana
Rene' Landry
Kristy Emerson
Kimberly Bullen
Sue Kiser
Brad Ferguson
Dean Havlik
Diann Rice
John Howard
Danace Arthur