Major emergencies and disasters involving injury or disease to large numbers of people can overwhelm full-time emergency response personnel within the first 12 to 72 hours. Volunteers can provide an important "surge" capacity during these critical early hours and supplement medical and health personnel shortages.

The MRC helps fill these gaps with volunteers who've been organized, trained, assigned and pre-credentialed to assist where their expertise is best applied.

For immediate answers to your questions or to contact the local MRC recruiter, contact:

James Bender

mrc@tchd.net

309-712-6544 (cell)

              309-925-5511 x 350 (Office)

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Can Volunteer

Are There Specific Skills I Need To Volunteer?

Why Does the MRC Need My Help?

What kind of things do volunteers do?

How do I join?

What can I expect?

What type of training do I need?

 

 

Who Can Volunteer?

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:

·          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.

·          Retired and working professionals in the fields of public health.

·          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. Volunteers will be classified into different levels depending on training and desired participation. These levels are:

 

Division 1 MRC members are those who actively train and participate in the MRC mission to support Tazewell County Public Health Department during a disaster.  Involvement will include attending trainings, exercises and additional MRC events. 

Division 2 MRC members are those members who are registered volunteers for a disaster.  After initial training these members are in reserve called up during a disaster and given on-the-job training for specific assignments.

There are many different types of activities volunteers may consider:

·          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.

·          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.

·          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.

·          Assistance Centers/Safe Havens/Shelters - Setup and breakdown of sites, counseling, errands.

·          Administrative/Office Setting - The MRC needs assistance in tracking volunteers, setting up the program, database entry, mailing letters, etc.

·          Phone Bank - Medical and non-medical professionals to answer a flood of incoming calls that deal with concerns of community members. 

·          Rescuer Break Site - Offer mental guidance, set-up and stage the area and run errands.

·          Leadership - All sites need to have leadership personnel.

·          Training/Teaching - Assist in training of CERT teams, CPR, First-Aid and other training to enhance the Medical Reserve Corp.

·          Public Health Initiatives - Assist with health department programs such as flu shots, Back-to-School Immunizations, epidemiology surveys, public education, health fairs, and more.

 

How Do I Join?

 

Joining MRC is the easy part! Volunteers interested in joining the MRC team will first need to complete a comprehensive registration form.

The form requires volunteers to supply personal information including your employment history, education, and training, as well as information about your interests, availability, and commitment to MRC.  In addition a criminal background check may be performed and any medical licenses will be verified.

It is important that you know the application itself is quite lengthy. It will shorten the length of time it takes to complete the information if you have all pertinent information such as license or certification numbers available, as well as information on education or training you have completed.

You can request an application by completing an on-line form.

REQUEST an APPLICATION NOW

You may also request a form from the Health Department. You can reach us at 309-925-5511. You can then complete the form and either mail it or deliver it to MRC Coordinator at the Tazewell County Health Department.  (Rt. 9 21306 Illinois Route 9 Tremont, IL 61568-9252)

What Can I Expect?

Once you have provided us with registration information, you will also need to complete a form allowing us to conduct a background check on you.

 

After we have completed the background check and processed other aspects of your registration, you will be contacted regarding your application. Once approved as a MRC volunteer, you will need to attend MRC orientation training before you are allowed to participate in any other events.

There will be other training opportunities available to you as well, 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.

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.

 

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