Denver Public Health Seeks Volunteers for Exercise on June 17

Have you ever seen the news about a health outbreak and wondered what would happen in Colorado? 

This June, Denver Public Health, Denver Environmental Health and other local response partners, are participating in a full-scale, statewide Public Health Emergency Dispensing Exercise (PHED Ex 2017) to practice quickly giving away emergency medications to people during a health crisis.

People of all ages are invited to participate in the exercise on Saturday, June 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Denver Health Federico F. Peña Southwest Family Health Center (1339 S. Federal Blvd., Denver, CO 80219).

About 200 volunteers are needed to walk through a mock medication dispensing site. This may include following signs, filling out forms, and receiving fake medication bottles.

Volunteers will receive free giveaways and a chance to win additional free raffle prizes. All people are welcome, and interpretation services will be available. 

"Responding to a public health emergency requires significant planning and coordination," says Cali Zimmerman, a public health planner at Denver Public Health. "Volunteers participating in PHED Ex 2017 will test our plans and identify improvement opportunities so we are better prepared to protect the health of community members in the case of a real emergency."

This exercise will test Denver Public Health’s response to a hypothetical disease outbreak, specifically to see staff manage:

• Distributing and dispensing resources
• Sharing information
• Coordinating a response involving multiple emergency operations centers 

Follow @PHEDex2017 or @DenPublicHealth on Twitter for exercise updates and information.