1. Hamilton County 1

2. Historical Perspective
After 9/11, President Bush established the Freedom Corps in the United States, asking Americans to volunteer in support of their country. Problems encountered during 9/11 were:
lack of emergency preparedness at the local level; and
many wanting to support emergency relief efforts, but there was no organized approach to channel their efforts.
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. 2

3. 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. 3

4. Goal of the Medical Reserve Corp?
Provide structure necessary to deploy volunteers to assist medical and public health personnel in response to an emergency.
Identify specific, trained, and credentialed personnel who are ready to respond.
Coordinate 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.
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. 4

5. Roles of MRC Volunteers
Stocking Supplies (medical and non-medical)
Clerical Support (registration, inventory, etc.)
Health Education
Security/Safety
Translation Assistance
Administering Vaccinations
Dispensing Medication
Transportation
Greeter/Triage
The number of people locally to volunteer to assist in these areas far exceeds what is typically available through normal resources. 5

6. MRC Volunteers May Be Called Upon To:
Provide Education on Family Emergency Preparedness
Assist with Health Fairs
Assist with Flu Clinics
Offer First Aid at Special Events
Provide Support During Outbreaks
Help at Community Distribution Sites
Assist with State-Required Drills
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. 6

7. 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. 7

8. 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. 8

9. 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. 9

10. 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
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. 10

11. Reasons to Activate the MRC
Assignments are based on what you 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. 11

12. Reasons to Activate the MRC
Infectious Disease Outbreak 12

13. Reasons to Activate the MRC
Flood 13

14. Reasons to Activate the MRC
Tornado 14

15. Reasons to Activate the MRC
Terrorism Event 15

16. Reasons to Activate the MRC
National Disaster 16

17. Reasons to Activate the MRC
Transportation Mishaps 17

18. Goals and Partnerships
Goal: train registered volunteers
Partnerships:
Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH)
Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA)
Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF)
Illinois Emergency Services Management Agency (IESMA) 18

19. Training Recommendations
MRC Orientation
Distribution Site Orientation
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. 19

20. Training Recommendations
FEMA On-Line Courses
IS-100 – Introduction to ICS (Incident Command) (optional for non-leadership members)
IS ICS (optional for non-leadership members)
IS-700 – Introduction to NIMS (National Incident Management System)
IS National Response Plan
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). 20

21. Training Recommendations
IS Intermediate ICS (for leadership only)
IS Advanced ICS (for leadership only)
For those that wish to take a leadership role within the MRC, there are two more courses which are advanced in their nature and expand on the concept of the earlier courses. These courses are usually given as a package and are only available in a classroom setting. 21

22. We Can Achieve More Together!
“Terrorism forces us to make a choice.
We can be afraid or we can be ready.”
VS. 22

23. For More Information Contact:
Clark Griffith, Administrator
Katie Lenard, Coordinator
Hamilton County Medical Reserve Corps OR 23

24. Become an ACTIVE MEMBER of the
Be prepared and
help your community!
Become an ACTIVE MEMBER of the
Hamilton County MRC! 24