WHAT IS A VACCINE POD?

A Vaccine POD (Point of Dispensing) is designed to dispense vaccines to the public as quickly as possible during or after an emergency. Both medical and non-medical workers will be present at the POD to address the public, and provide a seamless vaccination operation.

Location and Operating

Hours: 9am-5pm. We split this into two shifts.

Location: We are currently operating at Suffolk County Community College Ammerman Campus in Selden and the Eastern Campus in Riverhead. We are also operating two PODs in Hauppauge. One is at the H. Lee Dennison Building and the other is in a medical tent outside in the parking lot area. We do have pop-up PODs from time to time.

Volunteer hours:

We do not expect volunteers to work a 12 our shift but will accommodate that if anyone is willing. We have been running volunteers in either 4, 5, or 6 hour increments with a break provided. All shifts will require volunteers to arrive 30 minutes prior to their designated start time to ensure proper training can be accommodated.

Positions:

The non-medical positions we are looking to fill are:

• Flow Control: Individuals in this role will guide the public from one station to the next inside the vaccination POD.
• Registrar: Individuals in this role will ensure that people are properly registered before moving into the medical area. These individuals will be trained to utilize the NYS’s CDMS registration and intake system.
• Check-out: Individuals in this role will ensure that all paperwork and patient contact information is in order before people leave.

If medical staff with a current medical license would like to assist in the vaccination POD, we also have positions available for them. Those positions are:

• Vaccinator: (physician, physician assistant, RN, LPN, pharmacist, midwife, dentist, dental hygienist, podiatrist, emergency medical technician or paramedic or individual students enrolled in educational programs for any of the above-referenced practices) this will be the person who administers the vaccine and reviews medical history with each patient. Detailed training will take place prior to a medical professional being able to fill that role.
• Medical Consult: (MD, NP, RN) in this role, medical consults will answer any questions or concerns a person may have prior to receiving the vaccine including any medical history, allergies or potential vaccine reactions.

Those are a few of the positions where we have a need. Volunteers will receive just-in-time (JIT) training at the POD before being assigned to their position.

Volunteer Information:

We utilize two of our volunteer organizations, CERT and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC).

CERT- is a Certified Emergency Response Team. It includes a 10-12 week training course that makes you certified to responded to any emergency situation. To sign up for CERT click here: https://fres.suffolkcountyny.gov/volentry/

Medical Reserve Corps- Is a team of both medical and non-medical personnel that assist in various emergency related situation. To set up a profile. Visit my.ny.gov, click do not have an account, create a personal gov. ID, log in, go to health applications on your dashboard, go to servNY and create your profile.

If you have a medical license please enter it into the profile. If you do not have a medical license it is okay, we still take volunteers. After you complete your profile, someone will be in touch with you as soon as possible.

Any questions email  volunteers@suffolkcountyny.gov

Want to learn more about the Suffolk County Medical Reserve Corps click here!