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MRC Response to the 2005 Hurricanes - Final Report

March 13, 2006

In this Report:

• Executive Summary
• Background
• MRC Unit Activities: Regions I–V
• MRC Unit Activities: Regions VI–X 
• Case Study: Tracking Volunteer Hours
• MRC National-level Response Activities
• MRC Program Office Communications
• MRC Program Office Operations
• Initial Lessons Learned and Recommendations
• Summary: MRC Unit Leader Survey
• Summary: MRC Volunteer Survey

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More than 70,000 individuals nationwide have volunteered to help their fellow Americans as members of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). During the 2005 hurricane season, many of these public health, medical, and other volunteers provided health care and support services for the victims and evacuees affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. 

An estimated 6,000 MRC volunteers supported the response and recovery efforts in their local communities. In the hardest hit areas and as the storm forced hundreds of thousands of Americans to flee the affected areas, MRC volunteers were ready and able to help when needed, and assisted as evacuees were welcomed into their communities. These volunteers spent countless hours helping people whose lives had been upended by these disastrous events by:

• Establishing medical needs shelters to serve medically fragile and other displaced people
• Staffing and providing medical support in evacuee shelters and clinics
• Filling in for others who were deployed to the disaster-affected regions at local hospitals, clinics, and health departments
• Immunizing responders for the disaster-affected regions prior to their deployment
• Staffing various response hotlines created after the hurricanes hit
• Raising funds for those affected by the hurricanes
• Teaching emergency preparedness to community members
• Recruiting more public health and medical professionals who can be credentialed, trained, and prepared for future disasters that may affect their hometowns or elsewhere

In addition to this local MRC activity, more than 1,500 MRC members were willing to deploy outside their local jurisdiction on optional missions to the disaster-affected areas with their state agencies, the American Red Cross (ARC), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Of these, almost 200 volunteers from 25 MRC units were activated by HHS, and more than 400 volunteers from more than 80 local MRC units were deployed to support ARC disaster operations in Gulf Coast areas.

The MRC Program Office conducted two post-deployment surveys to obtain feedback related to the 2005 hurricane response. The office hopes to use the collected information to improve future MRC response activities. One survey was distributed to MRC leaders, and the other was distributed to volunteers who deployed outside their local jurisdiction during the response. A slight majority (51.52%) of the 38 unit leaders who responded to the survey thought that the activation process was unclear and not understandable, although a strong majority (84.85%) indicated that the MRC liaison desk personnel were helpful. Additionally, 97.66% of the 133 respondents who deployed outside their local jurisdiction stated that they would activate with the MRC unit again.

These dedicated and determined volunteers are members of more than 380 MRC units in 49 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the District of Columbia. This report provides details of the MRC program’s role in the response to the 2005 hurricane season.

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Last Updated on 8/11/2006