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In addition, 316 senior DDS and dental hygiene students were certified in Core Disaster Life Support (CDLS) by the American Medical Association, after completing a four-hour introduction to all-hazards preparedness (which includes explosions, fires, natural disasters, and terrorism preparedness) for allied healthcare professionals. The training was designed to ensure that in the event of large-scale mass casualty catastrophes, dentists and dental hygienists would be able to participate in local, state, and federal emergency response efforts in an efficient, coordinated manner.
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Last spring, Nagle Auditorium was transformed into a busy, simulated
Point-of-Dispensing (POD) clinic for NYUCD's first mandatory bioterrorism
preparedness training exercise for senior students. A POD is used
to rapidly provide medicines such as vaccines and antibiotics to large
numbers of people at a central point. The exercise -- to simulate
a smallpox vaccine dispensing center -- was conducted under the supervision
of Clinical Professor of Cariology and Operative Dentistry Dr. David
L. Glotzer, a member of NYUCD's Bioterrorism and Catastrophe Response
Task Force, in consultation with Ms. Anne Rinchiuso, Volunteer Coordinator
of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Bureau
of Emergency Management. During the three-hour drill, seniors posed
both as patients seeking vaccinations and as dentists in a Medical
Reserve Corps (MRC) unit triaging patients, evaluating their health
for conditions that might preclude them from being vaccinated, preparing
and dispensing vaccines, and directing patients through the process.
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