What is a Push Partner?
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Push Partners are companies and organizations in Clackamas, Clark, Columbia, Multnomah, Skamania, Washington and Yamhill Counties that are willing to partner with Public Health during large public health emergencies.
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What do push Partners do?
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Push Partners serve a number of important roles in an emergency. In a biological terrorism scenario, Push Partners help by getting no-cost life saving medication to their staff, families and clients under appropriate guidance from local Public Health. Note that in a pandemic, where vaccine needs to be distributed over several weeks or months, Push Partners may not be asked to help in favor of distributing vaccine through more traditional channels such as healthcare clinics and pharmacies. In events that are not public health emergencies, or where there is not a medication to give, Push Partners may be called upon to assist in sharing information with their staff, families and clients.
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How does the Push Partner Registry protect my organization? In the event of a major emergency, your organization may be able to receive rapid access to information and, in the case of a Public Health emergency, no-cost life saving medication. This service requires only your willingness to share information and dispense critical medication as a Push Partner Point of Dispensing (POD). They are also sometimes called "Closed PODs." Note that in a pandemic, where vaccine is the medical countermeasure that needs to be distributed, Push Partners may not be asked to help, particularly not those without licensed healthcare providers on staff or available to the organization.
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Who should be a Push Partner?
large employersPrivate and public organizations with large numbers of staff on centrally located campuses.
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disabilities, access & functional needs providers
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Organizations which help people who cannot attend, or are unlikely to attend public health medication dispensing sites. Examples include:
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planned respondersOrganizations with a written or implied role in emergency plans including first responder agencies and critical infrastructure providers such as:
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How many other organizations are Push Partners?
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There are more than 260 Push Partners enrolled in the Portland Metro Region. These organizations would, during a major public health emergency such as a biological terrorism incident, provide life saving medication to over 1/3 of the total population in our region. This would greatly reduce the number of people attending Public Points of Dispensing in an emergency requiring distribution of life saving antibiotics (pills).
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What are the requirements to sign up?
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Will my organization be liable?
The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a PREP Act declaration that provides immunity from liability (except for willful misconduct) for claims of loss caused, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from administration or use of countermeasures to diseases, threats and conditions determined by the Secretary to constitute a present, or credible risk of a future public health emergency to entities and individuals involved in the development, manufacture, testing, distribution, administration, and use of such countermeasures. A PREP Act declaration is specifically for the purpose of providing immunity from liability, and is different from, and not dependent on, other emergency declarations.
How will you protect my organization's anonymity?
In an emergency where the Push Partner Registry is activated your anonymity as a Push Partner is very important to us. We understand that you will be working hard to keep your routine operations going while also getting lifesaving medication to your employees and their families. Some of you will also be focused on taking care of clients. For these reasons, we will not tell the media or publish your identity. Instead we will use general public messages like “please go to the most convenient point of dispensing or check with your employer."
After you enroll
TALK TO YOUR EMPLOYEES
It is important to communicate your decision to become a Push Partner to your employees. Consider modifying one of these information sharing templates to suit your needs.
write your plan
When you're ready to write your dispensing plan these editable plan templates can help get you started. We are here to help you with your plan by providing advice, feedback and review.
The POD tools page has specific tools for use in your POD plan.
