DENVER, Colorado – Hamilton County’s Environmental Health Division has expanded its usage of the POSSE software platform in anticipation of the emergent need for effective COVID-19 vaccine and materials distribution. The expanded solution provides tracking, reporting and fulfillment capabilities to enable the efficient management of essential materials such as N95 surgical masks, respirators, and other items crucial for maintaining public health for the 338,000+ citizens of Hamilton County, Indiana.
Building upon the robust vaccine management capabilities of their existing ‘Powered by POSSE’ solution, originally developed for the H1N1 virus, Computronix worked quickly with Hamilton County to fast-track this augmented solution, progressing from development to launch in a scant six days!
Anticipating an eventual influx of COVID-19 vaccine and material stocks from both the Strategic National Stockpile as well as private companies and donations, the expanded system equips Hamilton County’s proactive Environmental Health Division to efficiently expedite the distribution of materials critical for stopping the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, real-time data gleaned from the system’s inventory management and vendor traceability processes enable Hamilton County to provide state government stakeholders with timely information to help inform future decisions on vaccine management, ‘Stay at Home’ orders, and other critical pandemic response tactics—crucial information given how the COVID-19 situation can vary both situationally and between regions.
Led by Environmental Health Director, Jason LeMaster, Hamilton County’s continued expansion of the POSSE software platform continues a journey that first began when rapid response to the H1N1 virus prompted the County to, “turn ourselves into a warehouse for receiving and redistributing in about a week with POSSE,” says LeMaster. That effective foray into vaccine and inventory management continued Hamilton County’s expanded usage of POSSE as a core resource for data management and workflow automation. “There’s not one thing we do in our office, data management wise, that doesn’t use POSSE.”
Building upon its initial footprint, as a data management solution for the Health, Survey and Highway and Building departments in 1999, Hamilton County has since expanded POSSE’s business process and workflow automation capabilities into areas as diverse as the Parks and Recreation Department, Community Corrections Department, and Parcel Tax system, as well as the aforementioned Environmental Health Division.
Acknowledging that a six-day turnaround is an impressive accomplishment for technology innovation of this complexity, LeMaster gave credit to the County’s enterprise software solution provider, Computronix, for their ability to expedite the solution, as well as their internal IT department for trusting and empowering individual business unit leaders. “Our IT department supports us, and they know how important it is when a particular mission, like this one, has to get done.” emphasizes LeMaster. “IT let us take the lead, when we need to be the one to take the project lead.”
In moving quickly and effectively to ensure their citizens will have safe and timely access to COVID-19 vaccines and materials, as they’re made available, Hamilton County’s Environmental Health Division is certainly taking the lead at a time when decisive actions and efficient technology can legitimately save lives.
