Health departments prepared for Ebola
Colorado has had no cases of Ebola, but San Juan Basin Health and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment are following U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to prepare for the possibility.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola or with objects such as needles that have been contaminated with the virus.
Ebola is not spread through the air. Ebola is not contagious until symptoms appear in someone who is sick.
Early recognition of Ebola is important for providing appropriate patient care and preventing the spread of infection.
The health department’s current role, in conjunction with local, state and federal partners, is to monitor the Ebola epidemic and provide education to the health-care community.
Right now, it is recommended that health-care providers ask all patients with fever and any other symptoms that could be consistent with Ebola if they have traveled to Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia within 21 days of the onset of symptoms.
For more information, call (303) 692-2700 or visit www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola.
Free injury exams to be held Wednesday
Advantage Physical Therapy & Wellness will hold a free injury-examination event from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at 3600 Main Ave., Suite A.
The event is first-come, first-served. Anyone is eligible for a free 15-minute consultation in order to find the cause of their pain.
The business specializes in muscle and joint pain, post surgery rehabilitation, overuse injuries, muscle strains and sprains as well as dizziness and vertigo.
For more information, call 259-7829.
Communication workshop offered
Mercy Regional Medical Center will host “Nonviolent Communication Workshop: The Critical Role of the Heart in Managing Stress” from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 29 and 30 in conference room A/B on the Garden Level of the hospital.
Daniel McMannis, founder of HeartMentors and trained facilitator through the Center for Attitudinal Healing, will discuss emotional self-management and mind-body healing.
Attendees will learn how to integrate and sustain heart-based approaches into emotional availability and nonviolent communication in the workplace.
The cost of the workshop is $50. There also will be two free evening sessions from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 29 and 30.
To register or for more information, call Kristina Joseph at 764-1260.
Hip pain to be discussed Oct. 22
Mercy Regional Medical Center and orthopedic surgeon Anthony Anderson will present “Hip Pain Explained,” a free community presentation, at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Anderson will talk about common causes of hip pain as well as treatments and innovative procedures – including the minimally invasive anterior (front) approach to hip replacement – that can provide relief and a rapid return to activity.
To RSVP, email RobertLiscombe@centura.org or call 764-1113.
Centura Health receives recognition
Centura Health announces that 13 of its hospitals, including Mercy Regional Medical Center, have been recognized by Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Analytics with its Stage 7 Award, making it the third largest health system nationally to have the most certified Stage 7 hospitals.
Only 184 hospitals in the U.S. have completed all the necessary steps to operate in a paperless environment and represent best practices in implementing electronic medical records.
HIMSS Analytics developed the EMR Adoption Model in 2005 as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for hospitals. There are eight stages that measure a hospital’s implementation and use of information technology applications.
For more information, visit www.centura.org.
Herald Staff
