Dr. John Cheevers Effect On The Public Health - 1276 Words

In this paper, I will assume the position of Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne), the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. In the â€Å"Contagion† film, the role of CDC started when two medical examiners in Minnesota reported an abnormal autopsy that was taken from a dead body (Beth Emhoff). Surprisingly, the cases were dramatically increased to five deaths and thirty-two infected cases (Soderbergh, 2011). The three situations that Dr. Cheever made and could impact the public health I. First Situation When the pandemic broke, Dr. Cheever committed to several questionable decisions or courses of action that had or could have had negative impacts on the public health. One of these was when he dispatched Dr. Erin Mears from the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Services (EIS) to investigate on the recent outbreak in Minnesota. The EIS, also referred to as the CDC’s Disease Detectives, serves as the first line of defense and investigation of the agency. It is actually a 2-year training program on applied epidemiology, undertaken by 70 to 80 selected physicians, doctoral-level scientists, veterinarians, and other health professionals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). EIS Officers are the ones who should be ready to respond in case of outbreak, as Dr. Mears did. EIS Officers have the responsibility of identifying causes of outbreaks, recommending preventive and control measures against them, and implementing strategies to protect