Medical reserve corps to form

By next summer, Wahkiakum County will form a group to assist the community in case of a large scale emergency.

The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is comprised of retired doctors and nurses and other health professionals that could help the county in case of pandemic.

Health and Human Services Director Judy Bright said the MRC was founded in 2002 in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In his State of the Union Address that year, President George W. Bush asked all Americans to volunteer support to their country.

The MRC is in partnership with Citizen Corps, which is a network of volunteers dedicated to preserving hometown security on a national level.

The Wahkiakum chapter of MRC is still only in the planning stages. The goal, Bright said, is to have the corps up and running next summer. Organizers hope to have at least 10 volunteers complete the MRC training for region 4. That region is compiled of Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark and Skamania counties.

Public health emergencies are considered from a regional standpoint so resources can be combined with larger areas. As Wahkiakum County is so small, Bright said, resources can be diminished early and quickly.

Bright said they are looking to have a roster of 10 volunteers from Wahkiakum County, 50 from Cowlitz, 150 from Clark and 15 from Skamania County. If that number were to volunteer, that would be a very good start, she said. That is just the short term goal; there is no real long term goal at this time.

Volunteers would have a variety of duties depending on their experience. Because so many would be retired from the medical field, they would be able to put those skills to use, including triage to mass distribution of medications.

The purpose of MRC is to be a backup system of people to assist because of only three clinicians. “You can imagine they would be overwhelmed immediately,” Bright said.

MRC is federally funded. As part of the contract through the Department of Health, money is funneled from the feds, to the state and distributed to counties throughout the state.

To join MRC, no medical background is necessary. There are other roles to be served. There are administrative duties such as assisting people with intake or paperwork. Office workers, legal advisors, chaplains, ministers; anyone can become a part of it. However, the key is that people must be a part of MRC prior to an emergency. They must have gone through the appropriate training, Bright said.

There is always the exception for those who didn’t sign up. “Just in time training,” would give a volunteer brief lectures on what they need to do. Because of the risk of malpractice insurance, they would not be eligible for more than the administrative duties.

Anyone interested in joining MRC needs to contact Health and Human Services. Albeit premature, Bright said a list could be made of people that could be contacted when the ball gets rolling. For more information, check the MRC website at http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov.