243465 Role of the Dentist and Dental Hygienist in Disaster, Pandemic, and Forensic Surge Support

Monday, October 31, 2011

Michael Colvard, DDS, MTS, MS, PhD(Cand) , Dental Emergency Medicine Responder Team (DEMRT) Office, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
The 2006 Illinois Public Act 094-409, amended the Illinois Dental Practice Act to describe any dentist or dental hygienist: "who is appropriately certified in emergency medical response, as defined by the Department of Public Health" is "acting within the bounds of his or her license when providing care during a declared local, state, or national emergency”. The Illinois Dental Practice Act 094-409 introduced the Dental Emergency Responder (DER) into the national legal, dental, and public health response lexicon. Illinois State law recognizes the Dental Emergency Responder (DER) can provide disaster, pandemic, forensic, and surge support during declared local, county, regional, or Federal event. The Dental Emergency Medicine Responder Team (DEMRT) Office, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) functional office chartered to manage and administer Illinois DER's in coordination with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the IDPH Office of Preparedness and Response. All qualified Dental Emergency Responders (DER's) within Illinois train for disaster, pandemic, forensic, and mortuary surge support within their constituent societies and local communities within Illinois. During the national 2009-2010 H1N1 vaccine distribution, through the authority of Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois DER's participated and delivered H1N1 vaccinations to Illinois citizens. This abstract introduces the American Public Health Association to the introduction of the Dental Emergency Responder (DER) and the to this new legal and public health response terminology.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Administration, management, leadership
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Introduce, explain, and discuss the latest developments in the national and state efforts to establish Dental Emergency Responder (DER) teams able to respond to disaster, pandemic, forensic, and morturary surge support needs during a declared event in the USA.

Keywords: Disasters, Emergency

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: N/A

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content i am responsible for because i am a Subject Matter Expert, Associate Professor and founder of the IDPH-UIC DEMRT Office at the University of Illinois at Chicago
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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