Public Health
Emergency Preparedness has been a focus of the York District Coordinating
Council, District Liaison and other interested parties for some time. Over the
course of the last few years, events designed to recruit Medical Reserve Corps
(MRC) members and tabletop exercises to showcase, educate and enhance overall
preparedness have been led by this group.
Beginning
in late 2015, stakeholders from across York Public Health District have been
planning a full- scale public health emergency preparedness exercise. The
culmination of this planning will be a Point of Dispensing exercise, also known
as a POD. The term POD refers to an organized method to distribute medicine to
the public during an emergency. This exercise will take place on October 19 at
the University of New England’s Harold Alfond Forum.
This
event will feature two POD distribution models. One will be administering
“live” flu vaccine; the other will be handing out the mock bottles of
ciprofloxacin or doxycycline needed to provide “post-exposure” medication based
on the circumstances of the individuals presenting for triage. This
multifaceted event has an overall objective of exercising and evaluating the
University of New England as a new POD location as well as determining the
capacity to deliver public health services on a challenging scale.
This
collaboration has yielded additional benefit for Maine CDC, district stakeholders
and the University of New England. For example, the University of New
England has incorporated aspects of planning and staffing the event into their
established curriculum for public health and medical students. This opportunity
provides tangible, real-world experience for students to participate and
understand an emergency response within the Maine Public Health structure.
