“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career,” added Dr. Marc Moss, head of pulmonology at UCHealth Hospital at the University Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, who joined Polis Monday. “There are intensive care units filled with people who look like you and me. And they were healthy a week and a half ago.”
At the University of Colorado School of Medicine, student organizers used a GroupMe texting app, Facebook and email to mobilize not only classmates but also area nursing, physical therapy and pharmacy students. Now more than 300 student volunteers are working at nine locations in the area, including hospitals, elder outreach programs and the local Salvation Army.
“There’s always a potential for a resurgence, if there’s still people out there who are still sick,” said Kathryn Colborn, research director for surgical outcomes and applied research at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus.
"Things that should be routine and easy are becoming much more complex," says Dr. Nina Ball, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a consultant with the advocacy group Cobalt. "Life is changing as we all try to act in the most socially conscious way and avoid trips out of the house that are not necessary and keep distance from others to stop the spread of COVID-19."
“It would be irresponsible at this point not to get ready to make tragic decisions about who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Matthew Wynia, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado.
In Colorado, Dr. Matthew Wynia, a bioethicist and infectious disease doctor, is working on a plan that would also assign a score. In his rubric, the first considerations are odds of survival and expected length of treatment. ... “One thing everyone agrees on is that the most morally defensible way to decide would be to ask the patients,” Dr. Wynia said.
“(I’m) impressed and humbled by the people that have responded. I think that it really shows the dedication of our future health professionals,” Halea Meese, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine said. Meese and another student, Jake Fox, helped organize hundreds of volunteers after they received a call from the governor’s office asking students to assist with triaging hotline phone calls from people with questions about COVID-19.
"You always want to go ahead and make a vaccine to a virus that is this deadly because guaranteed, we are going to see it again on this planet," said David Kroll, PhD and professor of pharmacology, at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. "
