Volunteer Support Needed
"All of my life I have been making small regular deposits in this bank of training, education and experience. On January 15, 2009 the balance was sufficient enough I could make a very sudden large withdrawal." -- Captain Sullenberger Flight 1549 "Miracle on the Hudson"
- When an emergency requires dispensing medication to or vaccinating the public, a Point of Dispensing (POD) operation has to be set up.
- All phases of a POD operation are dependent upon volunteers.
- It will take a approximately 177 volunteers per clinic per 24 hour day for a total of 2 to 11 days to vaccinate/distribute antibiotics to the entire population within a safe therapeutic window of time.
- PODs would offer protection to residents from any biological emergency (anthrax, pandemic influenza, tularaemia, smallpox, etc.) or for a smaller segment of exposed individuals. Factors affecting this would be the nature of the infectious agent, the incubation period, whether the medication itself has serious potential side effects requiring education, screening, and informed consent, and the size of the affected population.
- The POD job positions in either case would still be very similar.
Volunteers and their immediate families will be vaccinated/offered antibiotics on the first day of clinic operation, but being a volunteer does not mean you have to be vaccinated or take medication.
- In a large-scale emergency, the governor will declare a state of emergency (CT Public Health Emergency Response Act [PHERA] - registered Region 6 MDA volunteers have liability coverage in the clinics) and schools and most businesses will be closed.
- Orientation and training would be provided beforehand along with nametag identification and security access clearance materials. Licensed health care professionals must bring a copy of their current licenses.
- Simple bulleted job action sheets will be given to each volunteer for quick reference.
- The Town of Bethel needs to identify potential volunteers for these positions prior to an event in order to train them in the tasks they would be performing, as well as possibly utilizing them in training exercises and drills.
- All volunteers are strongly encouraged to register on ct.TRAIN, the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health's on-line education resource for public health emergency response, accessing a nationwide training system. Getting a learner account gives you free access to available materials and references as well as upcoming training specifically for clinic volunteers.