Mobilization centers: A strategy for volunteer management in public health disasters

Mobilization centers: a strategy for volunteer management in public health disasters

With the increasing role in emergency preparedness and response, the ability to dispense prophylactic medication to large populations in a short time frame is of increasing concern for public health. In a large scale event, it is important to have a system in place to assure that each of Los Angeles County's (LAC) 10 million residents has immediate access to necessary medications. Yet with a public health workforce of less than 4000, it is vital to mobilize the community to effectively function in volunteer roles at medication dispensing sites. In response to a bioterrorism or public health emergency LAC Department of Public Health (LACDPH) will activate Points of Dispensing (PODs), which may require mobilizing as many as 60,000 volunteers. Based on the Department's experience of the past few years in conducting POD exercises and training POD staff, LACDPH believes that mobilization of POD personnel on such a large scale will be greatly enhanced by concentrating volunteer management functions at dedicated facilities - Mobilization Centers. Mobilization centers are expected to fulfill four main functions: registering and assigning roles to volunteers, providing prophylactic medication, training volunteers in their assigned roles, and deploying POD staff teams to the over 200 POD sites that may be activated. This session will discuss the mobilization center functions, site and staffing requirements. There will also be a discussion of real-life experiences associated with mobilization center use.