Welcome to the Utah County Medical Reserve Corps

Amy Cornell-TitcombUCMRC Coordinator

acornelltitcomb@gmail.com

Objectives

Define Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) Name two ways the MRC benefits local

communities Understand the mission of the Utah

County Medical Reserve Corps

What is the Medical Reserve Corps

The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) was started in 2002 after former President Bush’s state of the union address when he encouraged all Americans to volunteer in their communities

It is an all volunteer unit of both medical and non medical professionals

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

Citizen Corps Continued…

Citizen Corps volunteers work to ensure that their families, homes, and communities are prepared in the event of disaster, emergency, or act of terrorism

One specialized component of that effort is the Medical Reserve Corps

MRC at the National Level

The MRC National Program Office is headquartered in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General.

It functions as a clearinghouse for information and best practices to help communities establish, implement, and maintain MRC units nationwide.

The MRC National Program Office sponsors an annual leadership conference, hosts a Web site, and coordinates with local, state, regional, and national organizations and agencies to help communities achieve their local visions for public health and emergency preparedness

Utah County Mission Statement

The Utah County Medical Reserve Corps(UCRMC) is dedicated to enhancing response capabilities to disasters or emergency events and increasing the emergency preparedness of local citizens in Utah County.

What We Do

MRC is a national program that establishes community-based teams of volunteers, both medical and non-medical

Volunteers contribute their skills and expertise throughout the year and during times of community need

The overarching goal is to promote health education, and improving public health preparedness

What We Do Continued…

MRCs consist of locally based medical and non-medical volunteers who can assist their communities during emergencies such as epidemics, natural disasters or acts of terrorism

Volunteers also provide education Support for local health department

Who Can Join

Practicing, retired or otherwise employed medical professionals• Doctors• Nurses• Emergency Medical Technicians• Pharmacists/Pharmacy Technicians• Dentists• Veterinarians• All other medical personnel

Who Can Join Continued…

Public health professionals Clergy Teachers HAM radio operators All other non-medical personnel

Tasks Performed by MRC

Triage Acute Medical Care Mental Health Services Pediatric Services Social Services Surge Staff Alternate Treatment Sites

Tasks Continued….

Registration Translators Float Staff Child Care providers Traffic/Patient Control Runners Patient Educator Security Inventory/ Logistics

Why We Do It

Major emergencies can overwhelm the capabilities of the health care system during the first 12 to 72 hours

Medical and other health volunteers provide important “surge” capacity during that critical period

Volunteers are needed to act as medical screeners, vaccinators, greeters, triage staff, translators, educators, data entry

Why We Do It Continued…

Immediately after an emergency, essential services may be cut off

local disaster relief and government responders may not be able to correct this for at least 72 hours

Knowing what to do to protect yourself and your household is essential

Liability Protection

Under the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 Federal Law, people who volunteer for governmental entities cannot be held liable for any harm (except for a harm caused by operation of a motor vehicle or a harm caused by criminal conduct or gross or reckless misconduct) that they may cause while engaged in volunteer activity. This MRC qualifies under federal law, so if you volunteer, you are not exposing yourself to additional legal liability.

Liability Continued…..

Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act Utah has enacted a uniform emergency volunteer health practitioners act, which aims to establish a robust and redundant system to quickly and efficiently facilitate the deployment and use of licensed practitioners to provide health and veterinary services in response to declared incidents of disasters and emergencies. This act (1) establishes a system for the use of volunteer health practitioners capable of functioning autonomously even when routine methods of communication are disrupted, (2) provides reasonable safeguards to assure that health practitioners are appropriately licensed and regulated to protect the public’s health, and (3) allows states to regulate, direct and restrict the scope and extent of services provided by volunteer health practitioners to promote disaster recovery operations.

Core Competencies

1. Describe steps to protect self, family, team, community

2. Personal/family preparedness3. Know and follow chain of command

1. MRC operates under the Incident Command System

4. Understand role of MRC in public health and emergency response

5. Communication6. Mental health (yours and others)7. Follow procedures8. Know your limits

Utah Responds

Our volunteer registry system All volunteers must register with this

system in order to be deployable and badged

Missions, deployments, ect. will come through the Utah Responds System

MRC volunteers cannot self deploy www.utahresponds.org

More Information

www.ucmrc.com› Utah’s Website

www.medicalreservecorps.gov› National Website