MARCH 2020

PROGRAM UPDATE:

COVID-19 EVENT CHANGES

A Message From Your HTC

Dear Patients and Families,

We are living in unprecedented t imes.' For days, we have seen increasing urgency regarding COVID-19. At the HTC and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, we have now entered a mitigation phase. The chancellor issued a communique that aimed to reduce community spread of the virus, SARS-CoV-2. This has led to our decision to reduce the clinical services at the HTC, and try to have most staff work from home.

This is a big change for everyone. On our end, I am very grateful to all of my colleagues as we struggle to keep our patients and ourselves safe from infection. I have seen incredible situational awareness, resiliency and comradery as we work together in truly unbelievable circumstances.

In order to reduce exposure, we feel the best decision is to start social distancing. This seems to be the most effective strategy to stop the spread of the pandemic virus. We are still here, but reduced in capacity. We are limiting clinic appointments for routine yearly comprehensive visits until this pandemic recedes. We will have staff at the HTC to see acute bleeding or other acute coagulation issues, but we are again limiting the number of patients who come to this campus to those with urgent medical needs.

We will have nurses answering phone calls and emails, pharmacists helping with medications, and there will bea physician and nurse in clinic every day from 9 am -1 pm to see acute patients.

Please keep informed about COVID-19. We will, and will try to keep you up to date about the HTC through postings, emails and other communication. We really want you to be safe. Please do take social distancing seriously in your own lives. We don't yet know the intensity or duration of this pandemic. We hope to see all of you soon. Please reach out to us. We are here for you.

My best,

Mike Wang, MD
Co-Director, Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center

A Message From NHF Colorado

Dear Community,

We live in a very different world than we did last week. Daily life has been disrupted and some of our most sacred traditions and institutions have gone dark in response to coronavirus (COVID-19). As an organization that works to promote good health, we want to update you on how this pandemic and corresponding actions are impacting operations at NHF Colorado.

All events scheduled March 16-May 31, 2020 have been cancelled, delayed, or modified. Following CDC recommendations, we are not planning to convene significant groups people until more is known about the impact of this virus. This includes our smaller scale weekend hikes as well as our signature Education Empowerment Days. Look for more communication in the coming days and weeks about specific changes to each scheduled event.
As of now, we are planning to move forward as scheduled with all summer activities, which include our very popular Family Camp, Mile High Summer Camp, and Unite for Bleeding Disorders Walk. However, we are delaying the registration process for these events as we continue to monitor the situation. We will evaluate this rapidly changing situation at the end of this month with the goal of making registrations live in early April, a delay of approximately one month from the typical process.
There are no known shortages of inventory for the treatment of bleeding disorders in the US. All manufacturers confirmed this at NHF’s recent Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MASAC) meeting; COVID 19 epidemic is not a reason to seek additional doses or to stockpile.
We will be communicating more frequently and specifically in the next 2 months. You’ve probably received emails by now from companies ranging from your favorite restaurant to your internet service company, and we understand it can be information overload. We will be exploring new and innovative ways to deliver educational messaging and we hope you will embrace more communication from our Chapter during this time.
We are here to serve YOU. Although our events will be paused and we won’t be able to provide high impact programming on a group level in the short term, we will be stepping up our capacity to take on individual needs as they arise. Reach out to us by email or phone for updates or for more information on how we can meet your individual needs.

Together in wellness,

Perry Jowsey
Executive Director, NHF Colorado

Moving Forward

As we move forward in this unchartered time, we will be constantly following advisory guidelines and directives set by the CDC, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the State of Colorado, county health departments, the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center (HTC), and the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF).

Our families with bleeding disorders are accustomed to unprecedented circumstances. Your daily life looks different from your friends and neighbors, routine health matters can become profoundly complicated, and bleeding-related treatment can reate immense financial and health challenges that are unfathomable to other populations. One thing we’ve seen in our Colorado community is that by sticking together, we find strength and success in managing health and empowering self. That will be our compass as we work alongside to become more innovative, adaptive, and impactful in navigating this public health crisis and in ongoing support for those with bleeding disorders in our community.

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