Title: Medical Reserve Corps Volunteers Strengthen Local Public Health & Response Efforts
Author:
Section/SPIG: Injury Control and Emergency Health Services
Issue Date:
When community efforts to safeguard public health are constrained by limited resources, recruiting and utilizing volunteers may seem a logical solution to the problem. We can usually count on a surge of volunteers whenever a public health crisis or other disaster strikes close to home. But for public health and medical professionals wanting to lend their skills during times of community need, volunteering has been anything but easy.
The Medical Reserve Corps was created in response to the President’s call for all Americans to volunteer at least 4,000 hours of their time to community needs in his 2002 State of the Union Address, specifically to provide a more organized approach to utilizing public health and medical volunteers. Their skills and knowledge can be highly technical, which requires coordination with complex public health and medical emergency response systems. Yet with adequate training and preparation, this valuable community resource can be used when it is most needed.
The mission of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is to strengthen communities by giving volunteers a means to offer their skills during times of need. The President placed the MRC under the leadership of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, who housed the initiative in the office of U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona.
Secretary Thompson and Surgeon General Carmona are committed to helping community MRCs develop a reserve of volunteers who are ready to support public health and medical preparedness at the local level. MRC volunteers are trained specifically to follow local procedures while utilizing their own skills and knowledge.
In addition, MRC units expand local partnership networks because of the MRC’s commitment to community-wide coordination. For example, MRCs work with other organizations, such as hospitals, emergency responders, law enforcement offices, and fire departments. These new working relationships can facilitate other forms of collaboration that may be useful across a broad range of public health initiatives.
Another benefit for MRC sponsors has been the opportunity to improve their crisis communications skills as well as their understanding of the emergency procedures used by their response partners.
Since July 2002, when the Medical Reserve Corps was launched as a national, community-based program, the Surgeon General’s office has helped more than 175 MRC units form in 46 states.
President Bush has personally honored the work these public health-focused MRC volunteers have done in serving their communities, particularly Mark Asperilla of the Lee County, Florida MRC. Asperilla was instrumental in establishing a local biowarfare response team comprised of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and emergency managers, which later merged with the Medical Reserve Corps.
The Oak Park Department of Health MRC, located in Illinois, has set a goal for themselves to develop the medical response capacity in the Village of Oak Park. Their hope is to be able to respond rapidly in order to supplement the current emergency response capacity. They are doing this by developing a plan to recruit, train and credential volunteers, as well as developing a plan for evacuation.
In addition to preparing for emergencies, MRC units are helping communities deal with public health issues as guided by Thompson and Carmona’s charge for “Healthy People 2010.” The Sedgwick County Health Department MRC, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, partnered with other medical professionals in the area to host a day dedicated to the “Diabetes Detection Initiative." The program serves to find the undiagnosed through community collaboration.
Volunteering and community service are at the heart of the Medical Reserve Corps, which is a specialized component of Citizen Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to making sure their families, homes, and communities are safe from terrorism, crime, and disasters of all kinds.
MRC volunteers are part of this network that encourages and values broad-based community coordination and ongoing skills development. MRC volunteers include professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, emergency medical technicians, dentists, veterinarians, epidemiologists, and infectious disease specialists. In addition, key support positions are filled by volunteer interpreters, chaplains, amateur radio operators, logistics experts, legal advisors, and others.
Every community uses its MRC volunteers somewhat differently. Some work with existing local emergency response programs. Others supplement existing local public health initiatives such as outreach and prevention, immunization programs, blood drives, and case management and care planning. The MRC emphasizes the importance of addressing local needs within the context of locally available resources.
The National Program Office of the Medical Reserve Corps is headquartered in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, functioning as a clearinghouse for community information and best practices. Our role is to help communities achieve their local visions for health and emergency preparedness and response.
If you would like more information on the Medical Reserve Corps, or want to find a unit near you, please visit us online at <www.medicalreservecorps.gov>.