Frequently Asked Questions
Anyone can volunteer to be part of the MRC. Many members have medical training, but others have no special training prior to joining the MRC.
An essential requirement is that you are willing to:
Learn your role. Work as a member of the team.
Meet the requirements of the MRC.
Do your part to help your neighborhood and community in the event of a disaster that requires deployment of MRC teams.
Are There Specific Skills I Need To Volunteer?
MRC welcomes not only medical professionals but all individuals with a diversity of talent, experience, skills, and expertise.
While the main focus of the MRC centers on medical services and healthcare, you do not need to be trained in a healthcare field to contribute to the mission. As a matter of fact, we need more non-medical providers than medical for some of our missions.
Some examples of MRC team member expertise include:
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Practicing and retired medical professionals, such as doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians, pharmacists, hospital-based workers, nurses' assistants, veterinarians, dentists, and others with health/medical training.
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Retired and working professionals in the fields of public health.
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Community citizens without medical training who can assist the primary health teams with administrative services, logistics, communications, record-keeping, and many other essential support functions.
As an MRC volunteer, you'll become informed about and oriented to your community's emergency procedures, trauma response techniques, use of specialized equipment, and other information that increases your effectiveness as a member of the team.
Training in the various areas of healthcare and disaster preparedness management is provided. This material may be presented in a variety of formats, including on the Internet, through CDs, in seminars, workshops, and classrooms.
Most importantly, you'll learn about the teamwork that is organized and designed to supplement the community's emergency response plan. Your skills will be put to best use in a coordinated manner.
Why Does the MRC Need My Help?
The MRC plays a major role in our State and community's disaster preparedness and response strategy. It provides an organized way for medical and public health volunteers to put to work their skills and expertise during local crises and throughout the year.
When a disaster occurs, the minutes, hours, and even days immediately following the event can quickly overwhelm local and even regional emergency and medical crews. The volunteers from MRC help to bolster those numbers and supplement the care the regular emergency personnel can deliver.
This increased capacity means that more people in need can get help quicker than if they were waiting for help from all the usual channels.
But perhaps just as important to the MRC mission is the ability to prepare or educate the citizens of a community about what they can do to be prepared BEFORE a disaster occurs.
What Kinds of Things Do Volunteers Do?
Activities in which volunteers can expect to be involved vary greatly depending on the situation at hand, the training and experience of the volunteer.
There are many different types of activities volunteers may consider:
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Mass Immunization/Prophylaxis Site (MIPS) - In the event of a biological outbreak the state and county health departments will be responsible for setting up dispensing clinics across the state to provide the public with life-saving antibiotics or vaccines.
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Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Warehouse - In the event of a biological outbreak a warehouse needs to be set up to breakdown life-saving medical supplies and transport to MIPS locations and/or hospitals.
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Disaster Site - Assist with search and rescue, provide medical expertise in way of triage and mental health, assist with security by way of traffic and crowd control and run errands. You must be physically capable of handling the stress and exertion you will encounter at a disaster site.
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Assistance Centers/Safe Havens/Shelters - Setup and breakdown of sites, counseling, errands.
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Administrative/Office Setting - The MRC needs assistance in tracking volunteers, setting up the program, database entry, mailing letters, etc.
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Phone Bank - Medical and non-medical professionals to answer a flood of incoming calls that deal with concerns of community members.
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Rescuer Break Site - Offer mental guidance, set-up and stage the area and run errands.
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Leadership - All sites need to have leadership personnel.
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Training/Teaching - Assist in training of CERT teams, CPR, First-Aid and other training to enhance the Medical Reserve Corp.
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Public Health Initiatives - Assist with health department programs such as flu shots, Back-to-School Immunizations (only if you have the health department (DGHD) on your personal insurance and take JIT training), epidemiology surveys, public education, health fairs, and more.
What Can I Expect?
Once you have provided us with registration information, you will also need to complete a background check and credentialing process.
After we have completed the background check and processed other aspects of your registration, you will be contacted regarding your application.
There will be several training opportunities available to you, as you familiarize yourself with your role within the MRC. You will train with a team of volunteers and will be assigned duties in different scenarios, based on your skills when you participate in a drill/exercise.
What type of training do I need?
MRC members will receive all required and necessary training either through the Internet or lectures. There are only a couple of required classes needed to participate during a disaster. The additional classes and meetings are to increase teamwork among the members and to better prepare you to be a leader during a disaster.
