Deactivation

Once the POD manager gets approval to close the POD, the message should be sent to all staff so that stations can begin closing procedures – counting supplies and cleaning/returning the facility to the manner in which it was found when the POD was opened. This is similar to a restaurant closing for the evening.

 

Once the public is gone:

  1. Clean everything so as to return the facility to its original configuration.
  2. Pack everything into boxes for return to the Health Department.
  3. Upon finishing steps #1 and #2 return to the main room for a debriefing.

While your staff are cleaning, you will need to do a walk through of the building with a member of the staff from the facility to check for damages to the facility. This checklist can be found in the deactivation section of the POD Manual. You may need to reference the activation checklist (completed by the activation POD Manager, in the activation section) to see what items were noted as being damaged at the start of operations.

The last item of business during operations is a debrief. You should:

  1. Thank everyone for their service.
  2. Acknowledge the success of the operation as well as any challenges.
  3. Give time to staff to voice observations and suggestions for future operations at this site as well as provide some emotional and psychological relief and validation.
  4. Document all responses!

Only with the feedback of the staff who work the event can changes to procedures be made to make it run more efficiently in the future.

EVERY POD MANAGER IS REQUIRED TO FILL IN A SIMPLE ONE PAGE AFTER ACTION REPORT WITH THEIR ASSESSMENT ABOUT HOW THE POD WENT AT THE END OF HIS/HER SHIFT. There is an outline for this report in the deactivation section of your POD manual.

These reports are used by the Health Department to create a county wide After Action Report for the event as a whole. All insights are appreciated! This information will also be used for reimbursement.