Wayne County

Historical Perspective After 9/11, President Bush established the Freedom Corps in the United States Lack of Emergency Preparedness at the local level Funding sources range from the Federal Government such as Dept of Homeland Security, to Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control, National Partners like NACCHO (National Association of City and County Health Officials, State Government via IDPH. IEMA, Citizen Corps Councils, local government budgeting and local partners.

Historical Perspective Part of the Freedom Corps is the Citizen Corps Council Groups under the Citizen Corps Council are: C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Training) MRC (Medical Reserve Corps) USA on Watch (Neighborhood Watch) VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service) Fire Corps The Medical Reserve Corps is a program that was developed in 2004 as a part of the Citizen Corps Program. Federal officials understood that if there was to be a large outbreak of disease, a bio-terror event or another series of extremely damaging storms like the multiple hurricanes that struck Florida or worse, that local officials would not be properly prepared to handle healthcare needs in their area until federal help could arrive and could be established. The MRC was formulated to fill that void on the local level.

What is a Medical Reserve Corp? Coordinates the skills of practicing and retired physicians, nurses and other health, dental and pharmacy professionals as well as other citizens that want to help their community. Volunteers rapidly mobilized to assist first responders during a disaster and/or public health emergency. An MRC coordinates the skills of professional healthcare volunteers, both active and inactive from all disciplines as well as non-healthcare volunteers in providing needed health, dental, mental health and veterinary services as support to local police, fire and public health officials in times of emergencies and until additional professional help can arrive through the county, state or federal governments.

Roles of MRC Volunteers Stocking Medical Supplies Clerical Support Health Education Computer Assistance Translation Assistance Giving Vaccinations Distributing Medication The number of people locally to volunteer to assist in these areas far exceeds what is typically available through normal resources.

MRC Volunteers May Be Called Upon To: Provide Education on Emergency Family Preparedness Assist with Health Fairs Assist with Flu Clinics Offer First Aid at Special Events Provide Support During Outbreaks Help at Community Distribution Sites MRC volunteers can assist in the education of residents in local communities in emergency preparedness and health initiatives. They can also assist in staffing for local health fairs and flu clinics. Additionally, most special events in a community will have a first aid site that volunteers can assist with. When it comes to a major disease outbreak or bio-terror event, MRC volunteers would prove to be invaluable to the community through assisting with surge capacity at healthcare facilities for those that are qualified to do so as well as assist in the staffing of pharmaceutical distribution sites.

Volunteers May Choose To Deploy Outside of Area to Assist With National Disasters such as Katrina and Rita in 2005 MRC volunteers can also choose, if they wish to go to other areas of the county, state or country to assist areas in response and recovery such as during the catastrophic hurricanes of 2005.

Who Can Volunteer? Physicians Physician Assistants Nurses Dentists/Dental Techs Pharmacists/ Pharmacy Techs EMT’s Veterinarians Mental Health Professionals All Other Interested Citizens As you can see, anyone that is in the healthcare, dental, mental health or veterinary communities are needed to assist in an MRC. Non-professional citizens are also needed to assist in various functions such as safety, supply, clerical, clinic movement, communications and the like.

Tailored Membership Volunteers to the Regional MRC have choices about their membership and can change them if they need to. Volunteers chose which level of membership they want to be in. Volunteers can chose to serve in any specific member community or all of them. Volunteers can chose to deploy outside the area if there is a need or stay local In the RMRC, you, the volunteer choose where you want to offer your services to. It can be in your local community. neighboring community, any of the communities or any combination of them. As mentioned before, you can also chose to deploy outside of our area in addition to the local area, should the need arise.

Tailored Activity Level Active – Heavily involved in training and activities Limited – A lesser pace of training and activities Emergency Only – Minimum training and use during emergencies/disasters only With the Maine Township RMRC, you also have many choices available to you for the amount of time you wish to give to training and the activities of the MRC.

Reasons to Activate the MRC Assignments are based on what you, our valued volunteers have told us as to where you would prefer being assigned to. Reasons for activation or response could be: Our MRC is not a stand alone group. That is, we do not respond or deploy anywhere unless we are requested by one of the local member communities, the county or the state.

Reasons to Activate the MRC Pandemic Flu (2009 H1N1)

Reasons to Activate the MRC Flood

Reasons to Activate the MRC Tornado

Reasons to Activate the MRC Terrorism Event

Reasons to Activate the MRC National Disaster

Reasons to Activate the MRC Transportation Mishaps

Reasons to Activate the MRC Our MRC volunteers can be activated (called to respond) to any of the situations you have just seen. Volunteers would be contacted by a variety of means and if they were available would be directed to report to a specific duty site or to a Staging Area (Gathering place for volunteers awaiting assignment)

Goals and Partnerships Goal of 200 Wayne County Volunteers Partnerships With Other Agencies Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF) Illinois Emergency Services Management Agency (IESMA) Based on our projected needs, we have a goal of recruiting up to 2400 volunteers for our MRC. Through National Assoc of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO), the Office of the Surgeon General has created a list of Core Competencies for MRC Volunteers. A copy of those competencies are in your packet and are something that all members need to attain. We will be offering additional training programs and activities both in classroom and on-line that members would need to take as well based on their level of volunteering. Most of the training has CEU’s attached to them. There is a listing of those courses and where needed, an internet address as well that is located in your packet inside your packet.

Training Recommendations MRC Orientation – On-line Point of Distribution (POD) Orientation – On-line Family Disaster Preparedness - On-line First Aid/CPR Participation in drills/exercises and practices This first and second training is what we are doing tonight.

Additional Training Opportunities IS-100 – Introduction to Incident Command Structure (ICS) IS-200 - Incident Command Structure IS-700 – Introduction to National Incident Management System IS-800 - National Response Plan IS-300 - Intermediate ICS (for leadership positions) IS-400 - Advanced ICS (for leadership positions) http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims Because MRC’s work side by side with first responder personnel like Police, Fire, Emergency Management and Public Health, it is necessary for you to become familiar with how they operate during an emergency. These course give you a good overview of how command systems work as well as the National Incident management System (NIMS) and the National Response Plan (NRP).

We Can Achieve More Together! “Terrorism forces us to make a choice. We can be afraid . . . or we can be ready.” VS.

Wayne County Medical Reserve Corps For More Information www.whcdil.org Clark Griffith Wayne County Medical Reserve Corps 618/842-5166 OR cdgriffith@wchdil.com

Be prepared and help your community! Become an ACTIVE MEMBER of the Wayne County MRC!