Session Summary
Just when Gila County was hitting double digits in positive COVID cases in June of 2020 the Bush Fire hit, forcing Gila County leadership to shift resources toward the fire response. And that was just the beginning of the pandemic!
Learn how Gila County become the 1st County in the U.S. to move to vaccinating the general population while responding to the massive forest fires, evacuations, sheltering, flooding, and post-fire flooding damage.
Michael O’Driscoll, Director of the Gila County Health & Emergency Management will walk through the key policy and resource allocation decisions that led to their remarkable success, even resulting in national coverage by CNN.
Michael O’Driscoll is the Director of Health & Emergency Management for Gila County Arizona. Michael Joined Gila County in 2011 and has more than 30 years’ experience in Emergency Management and Public Health and Emergency Preparedness. He has been integral in resolving large health disparity issues, vector-borne disease, foodborne outbreaks, ground water contamination, and hazardous materials complaints, among others—mitigating issues and ensuring public safety state-wide, across its various constituency populations.
Michael spearheaded Gila Counties community response to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, coordinating contact tracing efforts, creating, and implementing streamlined vaccination protocols leading Gila County to become the first Local Health Department in the US to begin vaccinating general population of residents.
Where: Zoom (registrants will receive the link)
When: Friday, June 24, 2022 9-10 am AZ Time
Cost: Free for AzPHA Members!
