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April 29, 2021
ADAMS & JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
WestminsterWindow.com
VOLUME 76 | ISSUE 27
Learning the lessons of COVID-19 Frontline workers recall the challenges they faced while working to save patients BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
(This the first part of a two-part series, which continues on May 6.) The first cases of COVID-19 hit the United States in 2020 and it was declared a pandemic by March 2020, changing the world and how we live. But nowhere is the impact of the virus more apparent than with medical frontline workers from across the world who initially did not know what they were dealing with or its dangers. They learned in 2020 and learned quickly. “There was so much hype and fear with the hospital personnel. Just because we work in a hospital doesn’t mean that we don’t have fear,” said Wendy Colon, the Director of the Emergency Department and Emergency Manager for Platte Valley Medical Center. “With this emerging virus, everybody was a little bit nervous.” The team at Brighton’s Platte Valley Medical Center joined together
Dr. William McNitt, left, inserts a tube in a patient, while Dr. Scott Hackman assists. The doctors worked long days wearing heavy COURTESY OF PLATTE VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER protective gear to protect themselves and patients.
with doctors and nurses across the nation to combat the mystery virus. Colon played a big role at Platte Valley, relying on her experience in emergency medicine and disaster emergency management when the pandemic hit. “I ended up in the position by moving into my career the way I wanted; because, I have two loves, emergency medicine and disaster emergency management,” said Colon. Colon was very interested in emer-
gency management and bioterrorism before COVID-19 appeared in Colorado. She continued to monitor the virus as it was appearing in China and moving around the world and the country. Once the first case was confirmed in Colorado, the hospital quickly opened an Incident Command Center, she said. Even then, when there was one person of interest in the hospital that needed COVID testing, they were not ready with all the processes
in place. They were not even sure how to collect a swab in those early days, and then they received the call the virus was in Adams County. The hospital worked as a team to quickly codify those processes. Colon was busy working in two roles on processes for the whole hospital. She also assigned other people to help from other areas and also a resource for the hospital. SEE FRONTLINE, P6
State limits indoor crowds as COVID dial expires Many counties choose to continue dial restrictions on their own BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Colorado allowed its “dial” of coronavirus restrictions to expire as expected in mid-April, clearing
the path for local public health agencies to decide what limits to enforce on businesses and other public settings. The stepping back of most state-required limits came even as Coloradans found themselves in a fourth wave of COVID-19, with new cases and hospitalizations on the rise after months of decline. With increased vaccination rates, “the state’s role in continuing to mandate statewide restrictions
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is lessening, and the role of local communities to regulate and manage the virus is increasing,” the state public-health department said in an April 16 news release. The state’s color-coded COVID-19 dial was the set of restrictions counties had to follow based on the local spread of the virus. The system affected capacity at restaurants, other businesses, indoor and outdoor events, and other settings. Colorado originally implemented
the dial last Sept. 15. With the statewide order behind the dial now expired, Colorado issued a new public health order that maintains some limits on large indoor gatherings. Meanwhile, most Denver metroarea counties announced plans to continue level-blue limits, which were the second-least restrictive stage of the dial system. Those SEE DIAL, P8
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