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 Home > Regional MRC Coordinators > Elizabeth H. Fitch > Region IV Newsletters > Region IV MRC Update - October 2005
A Message From the U.S. Surgeon GeneralDate: September 18, 2005 The Medical Reserve Corps program made history this week as the federal government deployed its first teams of MRC members to care for people along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. This was the first time we have activated members of the Medical Reserve Corps. And I am quite proud and honored that your MRC units were here to help. This terrible disaster has proven how valuable the Medical Reserve Corps program is to the nation, as well as to the communities that each of your units serve. In addition to the more than 400 MRC members who volunteered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 600 of you offered to help through a remarkable partnership with the American Red Cross. Some of you suffered losses yourselves. But that didn't stop your spirit and dedication to serve. Medical Reserve Corps members in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana staffed shelters and medical clinics to care for thousands of their neighbors. And I hear stories every day about the tremendous work you are doing around the country. Thousands of Houston area MRC members, for example, cared for evacuees who fled their flooded cities and towns for the protection offered by the Lone Star State. In Albuquerque, MRC members are staffing a telephone hotline for evacuees coming into their area. Nearly all of the 311 MRC units in the country have been active in the wake of this catastrophe. This includes recruiting more MRC members to be credentialed, trained and ready to respond to the next disaster. This also includes providing training and emergency preparedness education to your neighbors, filling in for medical professionals who have been deployed to the Gulf region, fund-raising for the victims and evacuees, and, of course, caring for the thousands of evacuees who now call your communities home. You have done an amazing job in response to such a colossal event. I sincerely thank you for the unwavering support you and your units have provided to your neighbors and your nation. Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S. Save the Date: Regional ConferenceThe Region IV MRC Conference is being planned for November 10 in Atlanta, GA. This will be a day-long event with speakers, educational sessions, and plenty of time for discussion! Welcome New Units!Fulton County, Georgia, now has a registered Medical Reserve Corps unit. Fulton County is the largest county in the State of Georgia, with 11 Municipalities, (including the city of Atlanta) and a population of 825,431 residents. North Carolina has four new units that have formed as volunteer components of the State Medical Assistance Teams. Duke Trauma, MidCarolina, Mountain Area,; and Southeastern Regional Advisory Committee SMATs are all forming units so that they can recruit volunteers in addition to their existing hospital-based and EMS-based membership. This brings us to a total of 51 registered units within our eight-state region (315 across the United States). If you know of a community that would like to start its own MRC Unit, please have them contact the Regional Coordinator, Elizabeth Fitch at (404) 562-4276. Units may apply for registration through the MRC Web site. Your support for these new units as they develop is very much appreciated. Did You Know?The Medical Reserve Corps logo is now officially a Registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This helps to prevent unauthorized use of the MRC logo. To be sure that you are using the correct version of the logo and that your use is authorized by the national office, go to the national Web site and log in. After logging in, one of the options on the left will be to update your logo authorization. Going through this process will allow you to update your list of items and download the official logo. Please note that copying the logo from the Web page will not give you the official logo as it should be used in print and other materials. Your logo should look like the one to the right. Please remember to send electronic mock-ups of logo items to LCDR Kidd for prior approval before distribution. Public Health Initiative: Medicare Modernization Act ResourcesChances are there are many people in the community you serve who rely on Medicare for their healthcare. Help them become better-informed about upcoming changes. The Medicare Modernization Act will provide a prescription plan as well as new preventative care services for Medicare beneficiaries. Starting January 1, 2006, Medicare will offer insurance coverage for prescription drugs through Medicare prescription drug plans and other health plan options. Enrollment for these plans begins November 15, 2005. More information for Beneficiaries and Caregivers. For community outreach opportunities, publications about Medicare can be downloaded or ordered. See publications specifically on the drug benefit. Helpful Online ResourcesJust a reminder: There is a collection of Web sites that may be useful to MRC Unit Coordinators. The easiest way to look at these links is by topic; if you go to the archive page, click on the drop-down box next to “filter by topic” (at the top of the page), and you will see the topics available. Pick a topic, such as Risk Management/Liability, and click the “search” button, and you will see the Web resources I’ve collected under that topic, along with a brief clipping from the page and possibly a note from me about the link. Recent additions include: Food Safety Videos, The Role of Public Health in Mental Health Promotion, The Public Health Consequences of Disasters: Challenges for Public Health Action, and Medicare.gov - Publications. Newly added: a topic for Hurricane Katrina-specific sites. Happy surfing! Upcoming Health ObservancesOctober is Health Literacy Month
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month October 22 is Make A Difference Day
Regional Coordinator Contact Information
Also, don’t forget to regularly visit the National MRC Web site: sponsored by the Office of the Surgeon General Put Yourself in the (Potential) Volunteer’s ShoesWhat if you wanted to volunteer for an organization, but didn’t know much about it? If you’re like many people, you would do some research to find out more. But what if your research led you to a Web page about the organization that hadn’t been updated in months and said that the organization had no volunteers and no recent activity? It might dampen your enthusiasm for volunteering, right? This could be what happens when a potential volunteer goes looking for your unit. If you haven’t updated your unit profile (which includes number of volunteers and recent activities), you may have lost a potential volunteer! Many of the MRC Units in Region IV have not updated their profiles since February. The National Program Office recommends that you update your profile at least quarterly so that the most recent information is available online. Please note that only the registered Unit Coordinator or Unit Director may make changes to your unit profile. If you are not registered as the Unit Coordinator/Director and should be, you will need to contact LCDR Kidd. Hurricane Katrina Response—Region IVRegion IV MRC units have been so busy with hurricane response and recovery activities that it has been difficult to keep up with it all! All of the unit coordinators have been doing a great job of working to meet local needs, and where possible, sending volunteers to assist with missions through Red Cross, HHS, EMAC, and other means. Units that have been involved include:
Last Updated on 8/14/2006 |
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