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Medical Reserve Corps
Who We Are and What we Do:
- The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) was founded after President Bush’s
2002 State of the Union Address, in which he asked all Americans to
volunteer in support of their country. It is a partner program with Citizen
Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to ensuring
hometown security. Citizen Corps, along with AmeriCorps, Senior Corps,
and the Peace Corps are part of the President's
USA Freedom Corps, which promotes volunteerism and service
nationwide.
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- MRC units are community-based and function as a way to locally
organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and
expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies and promote healthy
living throughout the year. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency
and public health resources.
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- MRC units are community-based and function as a way to locally
organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and
expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies and promote healthy
living throughout the year. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency
and public health resources.
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- MRC volunteers include medical and public health professionals such
as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, and epidemiologists. Many
community members—interpreters, chaplains, office workers, legal
advisors, and others—can fill key support positions.
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- MRC units are provided specific areas to target that strengthen the
public health infrastructure of their communities by the U.S. Surgeon
General. These are outlined priorities for the health of individuals,
and the nation as a whole, which also serve as a guide to the MRC. The
overarching goal is to improve health literacy, and in support of this,
he wants us to work towards increasing disease prevention, eliminating
health disparities, and improving public health preparedness.
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- MRC volunteers can choose to support communities in need nationwide.
When the southeast was battered by hurricanes in 2004, MRC volunteers in
the affected areas and beyond helped communities by filling in at local
hospitals, assisting their neighbors at local shelters, and providing
first aid to those injured by the storms. During this 2-month period,
more than 30 MRC units worked as part of the relief efforts, including
those whose volunteers were called in from across the country to assist
the American Red Cross (ARC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA).
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- During the 2005 Hurricane Season, MRC members provided support for
ARC health services, mental health and shelter operations. MRC members
also supported the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
response and recovery efforts by staffing special needs shelters,
Community Health Centers and health clinics, and assisting health
assessment teams in the Gulf Coast region. More than 1,500 MRC members
were willing to deploy outside their local jurisdiction on optional
missions to the disaster-affected areas with their state agencies, the
ARC, and HHS. Of these, almost 200 volunteers from 25 MRC units were
activated by HHS, and more than 400 volunteers from more than 80 local
MRC units were activated to support ARC disaster operations in Gulf
Coast areas.
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What can a MRC volunteer Do: Support local public health, while advancing the
priorities of the U.S. Surgeon General:
- Promoting disease prevention
- Improving health literacy
- Eliminating health disparities
- Enhancing public health preparedness
Assist local hospitals and health departments with
surge personnel needs.
Participate in mass prophylaxis and vaccination
exercises and community disaster drills.
Train with local emergency response partners. |
How Can the MRC Benefit Your Local
Community?
- Bolsters public health and emergency response
infrastructures by providing supplemental personnel
- Enables communities to meet specific health needs
- Allows the local community more autonomy – not as reliant on state and
national resources
- Gives community members the opportunity to
participate in developing strategies to make their
communities healthier and safer
- Provides mechanisms for information sharing and
coordination between all partner organizations
- Provides a dialogue between emergency
management and public health agencies
- Allows for national recognition of local public health
and emergency response efforts
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Emergency Alerts
The link
below will register you to be notified of all emergency alerts in
the area. Please sign up if you are not already registered. Not
all alerts will be related to the MRC, so we have a phone tree as
well. You will be added to the phone tree when you complete
Orientation.
IT'S A DISASTER! ...and what are YOU gonna do about it? 282-pg eBook covers natural and man-made disasters and basic first aid topics for only $2.50 U.S.
For more information, call Sue
Leferson, Medical Reserve Corps, (703) 369-5292, Ext 204
sleferson@volunteerprincewilliam.org |
Voluntary Action Center
9248 Center Street
Manassas, VA 20110
(703) 369-5292
Fax: (703) 369-5671 |
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