Sph Seis

Hello SEIS Members,

Volunteers are needed to assist health departments with the Coronavirus response

The Fort Bend County Public Health Department, Houston Health Department (the City of Houston),The DSHS Regional Office, and the Harris County Public Health Department need volunteers to assist with duties related to the COVID19 outbreak. These would be amazing learning and networking opportunities! Please read the information below and sign up through this link if you are interested.

https://uthtmc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0UtS12qOqkKWGOh

Before signing up, please keep in mind:

You must have your own transportation arrangements to volunteer. We will attempt to organize carpools, but one will not always be available.
Take into consideration your drive time and your shift when considering your time commitment.
The times listed in the sign up link are to assess your availability, and are subject to change as the response to the outbreak and health department needs change.
You will be contacted 24-48 hours prior to confirm volunteering slots that you have signed up for.
Please only provide times that you are certain you can make.
These opportunities will NOT include direct contact with confirmed, infected individuals.


WEEK of 3/13-3/20


Fort Bend Health and Human Services:

Number of Volunteers Needed: 3 students per shift
Time Needed: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-5:00pm
Time Commitment: 4 hour shifts
Location: 4520Reading Rd, Rosenberg, TX 77471

Volunteer Description:
-Need support to staff hotline for worried well as well as ill individuals and medical providers
-Conduct interviews and determination of testing eligibility
-Assist with backlogged epidemiological investigations, independent of COVID-19
-Conduct contact investigations of positive cases (i.e. airplane contacts and other contacts)
-Other duties possible


Houston Health Department:

Number of Volunteers Needed: 3 Students per Shift
Time Shift: Monday- Friday, 9:00am-12:00pm, 12:00pm-4:00pm, and 4:00pm-7:00pm
Time Commitment: 3-4 Hour Shifts
Location: 8000 N Stadium Dr, Houston, TX 77054


Volunteer Description:
-Need support to staff hotline for worried well as well as ill individuals and medical providers
-Students to assist with routine non-COVID investigations (must be available 10+ hours per week and experience in investigation preferred)

Harris County Public Health Department:

Number of Volunteers Needed: 8-10 Students per shift
Time Shift: Monday- Friday, 8:00am-2:00pm and 1:00pm-7:00pm
Time Commitment: 6 Hour Shifts
Location: 2223 W Loop S, Houston, TX 77027

Volunteer Description:
-Need support to staff hotline to support and build relationships with community members who call for information or assistance, surrounding the Coronavirus Disease. Calls will be coming from the public and healthcare providers.
-No experience needed, just a willingness to help others and support our community. Just-in-time training will be provided daily at 8am and 1pm. You will receive all needed information to answer questions.

Department of State Health Services Region 6/5 South:

Number of Volunteers Needed: 8-10 Students per shift
Time Needed: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-12:00pm and 1:00pm-5:00pm
Time Commitment: 4 hour shifts
Location: 5425 Polk Street, Houston, Texas 77023

Volunteer Description:
-Need support to staff hotline for worried well as well as ill individuals and medical providers.
-Work with data entry on current cases, contacts, and investigations.
-Conduct check-in calls with self-quarantined individuals.
-Help with contact tracing efforts.

Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions Qualtrics sophisticated online survey software solutions make creating online surveys easy. Learn more about Research Suite and get a free account today.

Now Accepting Applications | One Health and Outbreak Investigation Course | May 13-31, 2019

Application and more information: http://bit.ly/2DZloRa
Application Due: March 15th

We wanted to let you know about a new class being offered in the spring semester that provides a unique opportunity for students!

The Shoe Leather Epidemiology course is a 1 credit hour, pass/fail, seminar style course that will offer students the opportunity to learn about applied epidemiology and field work through lectures taught by local health department leaders and UTSPH Professors. The course will teach students about rapid assessments, risk communication, emergency preparedness and response, vector control, analysis, and more. Students have the chance to learn survey and interviewing skills, basic life-support techniques, earn training certificates, and much more. In addition to improving any aspiring public health professional’s resumé, this course will allow you to meet and network with leaders in local health departments and learn about career opportunities.

The course will be available to all campuses through ITV on Tuesdays from 4:00-4:50pm. If you are interested check out the attached flyer for more information and look for course PH 2998 taught by Catherine Troisi on My.UTH. If you have any questions about the course, feel free to email Lauren Leining at [email protected].

The Student Epidemic Intelligence Society will be hosting a presentation on Mesoamerican Nephropathy in Nicaragua on Thursday, April 19th, from 12-2pm in room E605.

Mesoamerican Nephropathy is an unexplained epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown origin impacting young male sugar cane workers in Nicaragua and throughout Central America. The presentation will be given by Dr. Kristy O. Murray who has been actively involved in the investigation of this outbreak. Dr. Kristy O. Murray is a Professor of Pediatrics with the Baylor School of Medicine, National School of Tropical Medicine.

SEIS is hosting a movie night this Thursday (2/2) with the SSGH and SA. Please join us from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm to watch Contagion in room E-605 of the School of Public Health. All UTHealth students, staff, and faculty members are welcome to join. Snacks and pizza will be provided!

Please note that the attached flyer has the wrong room number listed and the event will take place in E-605

Finishing Day 3 of the SEIS surge capacity to help CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officers with asking Houstonians about their experiences with Hurricane Harvey. So grateful to Dean Boerwinkle for allowing us to use the school as our command center. He even gave up his conference room and office for us 😍😇. And a big shoutout to our amazing students who have been volunteering with us despite work, class, and midterms!

Want to work side-by-side with a CDC EIS officer? Want to get excellent experience conducting patient interviews? Want to be recognized for assisting with the public health response for Hurricane Harvey? Then join us!!

We would like to have volunteers commit 4 hour blocks of time throughout this week (until Thursday, Oct. 22) to call patients and interview them to assess risk factors for mold exposure.

REGISTER HERE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ua9FvZJ8R_s3CGg5INO3fdv6u-FqQKwt6tPVT-8EK5A/edit?usp=sharing

Sph Seis members and officers spent the day helping the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Officers follow up with flood victims from Hurricane Harvey. We are grateful and honored they called asking for our help.

Our SEIS officers were assisting our Environmental and Occupational Health Faculty on Wednesday with soil and water sample collections in the local community to study the impacts of flooding from Hurricane Harvey. If you want to also help with sample collection let us know!

David Lakey, M.D., will present "Ebola in Texas: Stories from 2014" on Tuesday, October 17 from 1-3 p.m. CDT in the RAS building auditorium with ITV to all campuses. Dr. Lakey is an expert in disease prevention, community health services, and infectious disease outbreaks. Dr. Lakey was the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services when Ebola was in Texas in 2014. As the longest serving commissioner, he oversaw disease prevention, emergency preparedness, family and community health services, environmental and consumer safety, regulatory programs, and mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment. Currently, Dr. Lakey is the associate vice chancellor for population health and senior vice president of population health at The University of Texas System.

Dr. Lakey will present on his experiences in public health and will discuss how the state prepared itself for highly infectious pathogens and also controlled what could have been a deadly outbreak. Light refreshments will be provided.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS FOR GRB TONIGHT AT 5:30 AND 6:30! Bring a friend and your UTHealth ID.

Harris County Public Health is seeking Ut Sph SEIS students as volunteers to help with Hurricane Harvey relief and surge capacity efforts. Please register as a volunteer on their site. SEIS will send volunteer info by early tomorrow morning. Make sure to register for our email list so you can get our volunteering information.
REGISTER HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/vluaEhGAnmG534un1

SEIS Sign-Up Form Fall 2017 As an SEIS participant, you will be invited to attend trainings and engage in service and networking opportunities within the Houston community and beyond. For more information on the Public Health Preparedness Training Program (PHPTP), please indicate "YES" below.