SCMA/MLCMS
From the desk of: Wendy Young, Executive Director
(and the entire Team from the Sonoma County Medical Association
and Mendocino|Lake County Medical Society)
(707) 525-4141 | exec@scma.org
The Sonoma County Medical Association has compiled the following resources to support our local medical community amid the unprecedented restrictions that have been implemented to mitigate the transmission of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

We are canceling all in-person meetings/programs currently on the schedule. This action is being taken in accordance with recommendations from national, state and local public health leaders and in all of our best interests.

In the meantime, please continue to contact SCMA with any questions or concerns so that we can be sure we are getting you the information you need. You may call our main office line at (707) 525-4375 or email me at scma@scma.org. While we are not working in the office, we are working remotely and are monitoring phone messages and emails. We will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Note: If you have information that you believe is imperative to share with your Sonoma County physician and medical staff colleagues, please drop me a brief email with your info and I will share in follow-up communications as needed. Let's work together to share info that is important to the medical community. I am happy to be the conduit.

If you have an urgent question and need to speak to somebody immediately, please call me, Wendy Young, Executive Director, on my cell phone at (707) 236-2589.
CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (CMA)
NATIONAL - PRESIDENT TRUMP | THE COVID-19 TASK FORCE



President suspends HIPAA penalties to facilitate Telehealth, effective immediately

President Donald Trump today announced the federal government is immediately suspending HIPAA enforcement and penalties to facilitate use of telehealth for health care services in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

As of this morning, March 17, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has announced that Medicare will immediately expand telehealth coverage for seniors so that they can be treated from home and not risk their own health and that of providers by being required to visit a medical office.

Please see important information, guidelines and links here:


The federal government is working with insurance companies to ensure that necessary adjustments are being made. Please see CMS FACT SHEET here .

This guidance, and earlier CMS actions in response to the COVID-19 virus, are part of the ongoing White House Task Force efforts. To keep up with the important work the Task Force is doing in response to COVID-19 click here Coronavirus.gov . For information specific to CMS, please visit the Current Emergencies Website.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA - GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
COUNTY OF SONOMA
A shelter-in-place order that would have residents largely stay in their homes and limit all but essential business operations across Sonoma County is imminent and slated to take effect as soon as midnight, top county officials confirmed Tuesday at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s interim public health officer, stopped short of issuing the order during the Board of Supervisors meeting, clarifying afterward that she planned to issue the order “as soon as possible.” Read entire story here

This is an emerging situation. The County will provide updated information as soon as it becomes available. For the latest local information and resources on Coronavirus, please go to https://socoemergency.org/emergency/novel-coronavirus/.

Sonoma County Municipalities to Scale Back Non-Essential Services to Slow the Spread of the Coronavirus : Most County, City Facilities to Temporarily Close to Public beginning Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
CITY OF SANTA ROSA - MAYOR TOM SCHWEDHELM
FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA)
The latest Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declarations:
Covid-19 (EM-3428)
Incident Period: January 20, 2020 and continuing.
Emergency Declaration declared on March 13, 2020
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC)


Cases and latest updates (Note: This page will be updated regularly at noon Mondays through Fridays. Numbers close out at 4 p.m. the day before reporting.)


Coronavirus (COVID-19): Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program: Find more information on the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans at: SBA.gov/Disaster.

The SBA will work directly with state Governors to provide targeted, low-interest loans to small businesses and non-profits that have been severely impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program provides small businesses with working capital loans of up to $2 million that can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing. 
AND NOW FOR A LITTLE LIGHT READING....
Arequipa Sanatorium:
Life in California’s
Lung Resort for Women
Written by: Lynn Downey
BOOK REVIEW:
By: David Lightfoot, MD

This is the story of the Arequipa Sanatorium, a unique tuberculosis hospital that was specifically designed to treat working class women from the Bay Area.

It existed in Marin County from 1911 until 1957. The site is now the Northern California Girl Scout Council’s Marin Day Camp at Arequipa. ... By the dawn of the 19th century, tuberculosis, or consumption, had killed one in seven of all people who had ever lived. .... Click here to see the full review