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2005 MRC Deployment Information

As of October 3, 2005, the mission assignments for the MRC at both ARC and HHS have mostly been met. Therefore, unless the needs change drastically, we will no longer be asking you to develop rosters or have your MRC members submit applications to ARC. Any new MRC-ARC applications received will not be processed. MRC members who have submitted applications to ARC and indicated an availability date beyond October 9, 2005, will not be needed; we hope to accommodate the others and will notify them soon of their status. Further national-level activations with HHS are not expected. Both the MRC-ARC and MRC-HHS liaison desks are now closed. The below deployment documents and contacts are for informational purposes only. If you have any additional questions, please contact the MRC Program Office directly (301-443-4951 or MRCcontact@hhs.gov).

There were three mechanisms for MRC members to volunteer their service in the hurricane disaster areas, which included: 1) state-based mutual aid agreements and compacts, 2) a national partnership with the American Red Cross (ARC), or 3) a national partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

MRC Activation Through Local and State Mechanisms

Most MRC response and recovery assignments came through local and state channels—this is how the MRC program was designed to work. Although there were opportunities for MRC volunteers to leave their local jurisdictions to help in the affected areas, all MRC leaders should have ensured that local needs were met prior to making any decisions for national-level deployments. Local and state response partners should have been coordinated with to ensure they were aware of MRC activities and any potential activation plans.

Emergency Management Assistance Compact information may be found at www.emacweb.org.

MRC Activation Through National-Level Mechanisms

There were two options for national-level activation of MRC volunteers: through the ARC and HHS. Some general descriptions of these missions are outlined below:

HHS Mission	ARC Mission
katrina.mrc@hhs.gov or 202-252-0297	hs-mrc@usa.redcross.org or 202-303-5644
Special needs shelters, hospitals and/or clinic-based medical operation.	Sheltering operations.
Licensed volunteers practiced within the scope of their discipline. Non-licensed volunteers fulfilled various support roles.	Licensed volunteers only provided basic health services. Non-licensed volunteers fulfilled various sheltering roles.
Volunteers were deployed to austere environments.	Volunteers were deployed to austere environments.

MRC Support for American Red Cross Disaster Operations

The MRC liaison can be reached at 202-303-5644 or hs-mrc@usa.redcross.org.

• ARC Mission SOP - MRC Coordinator (Word 68KB)
• ARC Mission Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• ARC Mission Roster Template (Excel 46KB)
• Activation Applicaton Packet (PDF 461KB)
• Preparing for Travel (Word 338KB) 

MRC Support for HHS Hurricane Response and Recovery Efforts

The MRC liaison can be reached at 202-252-0297 or Katrina.MRC@hhs.gov.

• HHS Mission SOP - MRC Coordinator (Word 66KB - Updated 9/25/05)
• HHS Mission Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (Word 68KB)
• HHS Mission Roster Template (Excel 22KB)
• Certify Credentials Verification Letter Template (Word 20KB)
• I-9 Form (PDF 489KB)
• EOD Form (PDF 71KB)
• SF-61 (PDF 348KB)
• SF-1152 (PDF 166KB)
• HHS Mission Orientation (Word 64KB)
• HHS Mission Preparing for Travel (Word 22KB)
• HHS Mission Tips (Word 28KB)
• HHS Mission Assignment Sheet (Word 57KB)

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Last Updated on 11/25/2009