Logistics for Regional Mass Prophylaxis Services: Identifying, requesting, and pooling resources

In December 2006, the Watertown Department of Health and Human Services (Watertown, Massachusetts) participated in the third annual regional flu clinic / Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS), full scale exercise. As the agency responsible of logistics, local health officials from Watertown served in the roles of Logistics Section Chief and on-site supply management. Local health officials from four neighboring jurisdictions (i.e., Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, and Newton), filled command and general command staff positions. Together, the five local health departments planned and operated a clinic that provided influenza and pneumococcal vaccine to 600+ clients in two hours while exercising and evaluating several critical tasks and capabilities.

This presentation by the Logistics Section Chief will describe how necessary resources were identified, acquired, staged, and transported. Since each agency contributed supplies, departmental staff, and volunteers, managing the logistics for this operation was a challenge. Whereas ideally, a single entity/agency would stage and transport all supplies, the location of resources and certain legal constraints required a unique and effective approach to managing the logistics for this operation.