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In this Issue:
- Governor's Corner
- Around the State:
- National ACP:
- Chapter Excellence Award:
- Chapter Meetings:
- Member News
- Volunteer Opportunity:
- Health and Public Policy Committee – Update:
- Updates:
Alwinn Steinmann, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governor's Corner
I hope this communication finds you all well and that you were able to find some time for yourselves and family over the summer. Now, perhaps more than ever, we need those opportunities to recharge our batteries and reconnect with the people in our lives.
I am happy to be sending out this quarterly newsletter to update our members on the activities of our chapter, what is happening in our state, and to share newsworthy items. I thank those who contributed to this communication and helped get it out to our members.
Please be sure to renew your membership!
The national ACP and our Colorado Chapter are running a behind on the number of member renewals for this time of year. This has certainly been an atypical and challenging year, but we hope that our members find value in belonging to our organization and will choose to renew their membership.
Around the State:
From a COVID perspective, our state did reasonably well over the summer, and cases seem to be holding fairly steady at a manageable level. A recent increase has largely been attributed to cases in schools and college campuses. Of course, we are all anxiously awaiting to see what the fall and winter months will bring!
Fires have been the other big story over the summer in Colorado. We are fortunate to have avoided the severity and damage of the fires on the west coast, but did see a lot of acreage and some structures destroyed. I hope all of you weathered those disasters well – our colleagues in the Grand Junction area were quite close to one of the large fires!
National ACP:
Like just about everything else, the fall Board of Governors (BOG) meeting will be virtual this year. No resolutions were acted on in the spring, so they were all held over for the October meeting. There were a small number of new resolutions that were allowed to be introduced that mainly dealt with urgent issues having to do with the COVID pandemic.
Chapter Excellence Award:
I am delighted to report that our chapter has received the Gold Level Chapter Excellence Award from the ACP! Many thanks to Christine Westbrook and all our members who contributed to this, especially all our committee members and Chairs.
Chapter Meetings:
Due to occupancy restrictions for the conference room we use for our Ortho Day, and the essential role of hands-on learning for that activity, we decided to cancel the event for this year. Many thanks to Jen Stichman and Ted Parks for their work on this. We plan on this event returning in 2021!
As of now, we are planning on having our Annual Chapter Meeting at the Broadmoor (Feb. 5-6, 2021). Our Chapter Meeting Planning Committee has been hard at work planning sessions and securing speakers. The Broadmoor is planning room arrangements to accommodate up to 175 attendees with appropriate physical distancing consistent with current state requirements. We are also working on offering a virtual option – more on this at a later date!
Member News
New Masters:
I am delighted to announce that two new ACP Masters have been selected from Colorado!
Dr. Carol Greenlee – an endocrinologist in Grand Junction, who Chaired the ACP Council of Subspecialty Societies and served on the ACP's Board of Regents form 2016 – 2020.
Dr. Christie Reimer – an internist in Fort Collins and former Governor of the Colorado Chapter.
Both have far more accomplishments than I have listed here and we are fortunate to have them as members of our chapter! Congratulations to you both!
New Fellows:
Also, please join me in congratulating our Colorado Chapter's new fellows –
S Elizabeth Cruse, MD FACP
Bradley Holmes, MD FACP
Edward N Murphy, MD FACP
Volunteer Opportunity:
DAWN Clinic – In August I sent out a chapter-wide e-mail regarding a volunteer opportunity at the DAWN Clinic in Aurora. This involves remote precepting of medical students and residents providing primary care services to uninsured patients. If you would like to learn more, or are ready to get involved, please email Dr Johnson directly at Joseph.Johnson@dawnclinic.org. More information is also available at www.dawnclinic.org.
Also, speaking of volunteer opportunities, many thanks to those who responded to our request for new members for our chapter Membership Committee. Following that communication, Dr. Walker, the committee Chair, heard from a number of interested parties! Dr. Walker and I are grateful for the response.
Health and Public Policy Committee – Update:
The Health and Public Policy Committee has been quiet this summer. Several weeks ago, we discussed whether to support Colorado Medical Societies recommendations on upcoming ballot initiatives. This coming November, we all will be voting on whether to support or oppose proposition EE and initiative 120. Proposition EE proposes an increase in taxes for cigarettes and nicotine products. The increased revenue would be used to support education and other important, affordable housing and tobacco education. Initiative 120 would prohibit abortion after 22 weeks and would make performing abortions after 22 weeks a class 1 misdemeanor. The HPPC, using ACP policy, agreed to support CMS recommendations which were to support proposition EE and to oppose initiative 120. Please get out and vote this November and educate yourself on upcoming ballot issues.
Rich Penaloza
Updates:
As always, please remember to visit the ACP's website to get the latest updates on what the College is doing, our current advocacy efforts and the newest resources they offer. Including:
- Updated COVID-19 resources
- New interactive cases for high value care
- New guidelines for musculo-skeletal injuries in adults