Embracing Computer Modeling to Address Pandemic Influenza in the 21st Century Katherine Aaby, Rachel L. Abbey, Jeffrey W. Herrmann, Mark Treadwell, Carol S. Jordan, and Kathy Wood  R eacting to a pandemic influenza outbreak will require the mass distribution of vaccine, ∗ when available, which will require county health departments to set up and operate one or more mass vaccination clinics, also known as points of dispensing (PODs). Carefully planning these PODs before an event occurs is a difficult but important job. First, this article describes a tool—the Clinic Planning Model Generator computer program—designed to help public health agencies evaluate and make adjustments to their POD plans. The Clinic Planning Model Generator was built on data from a smallpox exercise and other biological agent POD exercises. Second, this article demonstrates the application of the Clinic Planning Model Generator through an example pandemic influenza scenario. This work is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Montgomery County, Maryland’s Advanced Practice Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, and the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland. KEY WORDS: emergency preparedness, pandemic influenza, public health, technology Planning for an influenza pandemic outbreak is one of the most challenging tasks in the field of public health emergency planning and response. Past influenza pan- demics have caused significant death, disease, and eco- nomic and social disruption. 1 Many scientists are in agreement that a worldwide influenza pandemic is imminent. J Public Health Management Practice, 2006, 12(4), 365–372 C  2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. ∗ The authors recognize that there may not be a vaccine at the onset of the influenza pandemic; however, it is anticipated that a vaccine will become available. As public health agencies begin to adapt their point of dispensing (POD) † plans to prepare for a pandemic influenza scenario, it continues to be difficult to test their plans using various influenza scenarios owing to lack of resources (eg, funding) and insufficient time to conduct exercises. For this reason, local public health agencies need tools, resources, and current research to adapt their POD models in a timely and succinct manner. An important question for public health emer- gency planners—those persons within local public health agencies dedicated to creating POD plans—is how to allocate a limited number of staff to different workstations in a POD to maximize capacity. Research is limited, but some work has been done to answer this The authors thank the National Association of County and City Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for their support in the development of the Clinic Planning Generator Model (Cooperative Agreement Number U50/CCU302718). Corresponding author: Katherine Aaby, MPH, RN, Montgomery County Ad- vanced Practice Center, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Program, Department of Health and Human Services, 2000 Dennis Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20902 (e-mail: kay.aaby@montgomerycountymd.gov).  Katherine Aaby, MPH, RN, is Program Manager, Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Program, Department of Health and Human Services, Silver Spring, Maryland. Rachel L. Abbey, BA, is Program Specialist, Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Program, Department of Health and Human Services, Silver Spring, Maryland. Jeffrey W. Herrmann, PhD, is Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park. Mark Treadwell, BS, is Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park. Carol S. Jordan, MPH, RN, is Director, Communicable Disease and Epidemiology, Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, Dennis Avenue Health Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. Kathy Wood, MPH, RN, is Nurse Administrator, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Program, Department of Health and Human Services, Silver Spring, Maryland. † A POD is defined for the purposes of this article as a location where medication/vaccinations are distributed to patients. 2 365