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Region IV MRC Update - March 2006
In this issue:
Welcome New MRC Units
Please welcome our newest units:
- Lincoln County MRC, based in Stanford Kentucky, is comprised of nurses, EMTs, and non-medical volunteers who will assist local public health in providing needed services in an emergency. They have already participated in a pandemic flu exercise.
- North Georgia MRC will eventually cover the whole North Georgia Public Health District, but is beginning with Whitfield County.
- ERAC State Medical Assistance Team MRC will serve as the volunteer component of the Eastern Regional Trauma Advisory Committee’s State Medical Assistance Team in Eastern North Carolina.
- Metrolina RAC SMAT II, based out of Charlotte North Carolina, has formed an MRC to serve as volunteer support for their State Medical Assistance Team, which draws its members from a twelve-county area in southern central North Carolina.
This brings us to 58 registered units within our eight-state region (381 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 or elizabeth.fitch@hhs.gov. Units may apply for registration through the MRC Web site. Your support for these new units as they develop is very much appreciated.
MRC Included in "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned"
(Reposted from a message distributed to the MRC Listserv)
Dear MRC Leaders and Colleagues,
Yesterday, the White House released a document entitled “The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned.” This document is the product of an extensive review, led by the President’s Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend, and it identifies deficiencies in the Federal government’s response, recognizes what went right, and lays the groundwork for transforming how the Nation—from every level of government, the private sector, and individual citizens and communities—pursues a real and lasting vision of emergency preparedness and response. We are proud that the Medical Reserve Corps is included in the assessment of the response in a positive light. In addition to the MRC specifically, volunteer related issues are mentioned throughout the stories of what went right, lessons learned, and recommendations for the future.
The following are some highlights which mention the Medical Reserve Corps, Citizen Corps, USA Freedom Corps, and other volunteer related topics from the report. All excerpts are from The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned document, as issued by The White House. To read the entire document, please click on the following link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/index.html. Page numbers are provided after each quote or comment so readers may quickly reference the excerpts within the full report.
Mentions of MRC, the Surgeon General, Citizen Corps, and USA Freedom Corps
- “The number of volunteer, non-profit, faith-based, and private sector entities that aided in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort was truly extraordinary. Nearly every national, regional, and local charitable organization in the United States, and many from abroad, contributed aid to the victims of the storm. Trained volunteers from member organizations of the National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), the American Red Cross, Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), as well as untrained volunteers from across the United States, deployed to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.” (p.63)
- “Government sponsored volunteer organizations also played a critical role in providing relief and assistance. For example, the USA Freedom Corps persuaded numerous non-profit organizations and the Governor’s State Service Commissions to list their hurricane relief volunteer opportunities in the USA Freedom Corps volunteer search engine. The USA Freedom Corps also worked with the Corporation for National and Community Service, which helped to create a new, people-driven “Katrina Resource Center” to help volunteers connect their resources with needs on the ground. In addition, 14,000 Citizen Corps volunteers supported response and recovery efforts around the country. This achievement demonstrates that seamless coordination among government agencies and volunteer organizations is possible when they build cooperative relationships and conduct joint planning and exercises before an incident occurs.” (p. 71)
- “The Surgeon General should routinely communicate public health, as well as individual and community preparedness guidance to the general population. While there are other prominent and capable Federal health officials, the Surgeon General’s stature and credibility should be used to repeatedly and proactively deliver a consistent public health preparedness message to the public. This will not only help to increase personal, community and national disaster preparedness, it will also make the Surgeon General a more effective and credible source of guidance during public health emergencies.” (p. 105)
- “HHS should organize, train, equip, and roster medical and public health professionals in preconfigured and deployable teams. These personnel should be comprised of officers of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), the NDMS, health care providers within DOD and the VA, and volunteer health professionals from the private sector. This is consistent with the HHS efforts to enhance the medical and public health response to meet future challenges by transforming the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. This will enable a critical emergency response resource to address public health challenges more quickly and efficiently.” (p. 113)
- “The Citizen Corps coordinated volunteer efforts throughout the country, with more than 14,000 Citizen Corps volunteers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia actively involved in response and recovery efforts across America. The Harris County, Texas, Citizen Corps Council brought together an enormous number of volunteers to support the American Red Cross and staffed evacuation centers throughout Houston. They processed over 8,000 volunteers in one day, and an average of 3,500 per day overall. These volunteers allowed for the creation of an actual city (with its own zip code) for nearly 25,000 Louisiana evacuees sheltering in the Houston Reliant Astrodome. They were successful because they had coordinated ahead of time with local businesses and volunteer groups, and because they were familiar with and implemented elements of the Incident Command System.” (p. 126)
Lessons Learned
- “The Federal response should better integrate the contributions of volunteers and nongovernmental organizations into the broader national effort. This integration would be best achieved at the State and local levels, prior to future incidents. In particular, State and local governments must engage NGOs in the planning process, credential their personnel, and provide them the necessary resource support for their involvement in a joint response.” (p. 114)
- “The Federal government, working with State, local, NGO, and private sector partners, should combine the various disparate citizen preparedness programs into a single national campaign to promote and strengthen citizen and community preparedness. This campaign should be developed in a manner that appeals to the American people, incorporates the endorsement and support of prominent national figures, focuses on the importance of individual and community responsibility for all-hazard disaster preparedness, provides meaningful and comprehensive education, training and exercise opportunities applicable to all facets of the American population, and establishes specialized preparedness programs for those less able to provide for themselves during disasters such as children, the ill, the disabled, and the elderly.” (call out box, p. 80)
- “Medical and public health assets provided excellent care to thousands of displaced patients with both acute injuries and with chronic medical conditions, many of whom had multiple complex medical requirements. According to the Governors from the Gulf Region, medical and public health professionals were true heroes of the Hurricane Katrina response.” (p. 46)
Integrating, training, and preparing volunteers were pointed out—throughout the document—as keys for being better equipped for any disaster which may lie ahead. The MRC can and will do better to collaborate at all levels. We have laid out a solid foundation on which to grow stronger and more prepared, and we are now being recognized at the highest level for our efforts and involvement.
In this document, we see that there is a heightened sensitivity and importance put on public health preparedness. Rather than working in reaction to disaster and crisis, we must instead make a greater effort to prepare for them. Public health preparedness has always been a strong component of the MRC, as well as a priority of the U.S. Surgeon General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the President of the United States. Americans are being charged to convert our culture to one of preparedness and to become more aware that the nation shares common goals and responsibilities for homeland security. MRC leaders and volunteers understand this, as well as live it. Now, we all must work even harder within our communities, states, and across the nation to bolster this mentality amongst our fellow citizens. As a program, the MRC is in a place to make a real difference in future responses, by helping to prepare and educate our neighbors today.
Warm regards,
Rob
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Registration Open for the 2006 MRC National Leadership and Training Conference
Online registration is now open for the 2006 MRC National Leadership and Training Conference, to be held in Dallas, TX, April 18–21. Visit the MRC Web site and click the “2006 National Leadership & Training Conference” button to visit the registration page. Highlights of this year’s conference will include:
- Volunteer Management Training
- Keynote presentation on Pandemic Influenza
- Concurrent session presentations
- Region IV Breakout Session
- Networking sessions for sharing best practices and ideas
Please come join us in Dallas for what will be an informative and inspiring conference!
Upcoming Events of Interest
- Making Sense of NIMS: March 9, 2006, 10:00–11:30 a.m. ET
- Learning from Katrina: Tough Lessons in Preparedness and Emergency Response: March 31, 2006, ~ 2:00–3:00 p.m.
- NACCHO's NIMS Training: April 6, 2006, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., The Madison Hotel, Memphis, TN
- 2006 MRC National Leadership and Training Conference – April 18–21, Dallas, TX
The Decision to Volunteer
Believe it or not, any time an individual decides to do something (for instance, volunteer with your MRC), they perform a mental cost-benefit analysis. Think about it—when someone asks you to do something, you mentally balance out the benefits with the “costs” of performing whatever the action is. Although there can be financial costs to volunteering, the primary costs are those things we have to give up in order to volunteer, such as time with family, favorite TV shows, or sleep. We all know that time is often more precious than money.
To help potential volunteers decide whether volunteering with your MRC is a good choice for them (and let’s face it, sometimes it isn’t), it’s important to give them an idea of both the costs (primarily the time commitment) and the benefits of volunteering. Keep in mind that not all of the benefits are tangible—some people are motivated by meeting new people, the opportunity to take on a leadership role, or the knowledge that they are helping to make their communities stronger and safer. For more tips on marketing your MRC to potential volunteers, visit the Points of Light Foundation’s Developing Media Messages for Volunteer Programs.
Helpful Online Resources
Just a reminder: There is a collection of Web sites available 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: Extended Range Forecast of Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Activity—2006, Guide to Writing Successful Press Releases, The EMAP Disaster Public Education and Information Project and the University of Albany Center for Public Health Preparedness Short Course: Preparedness and Community Response to Pandemics. Happy Surfing!
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Upcoming Health Observances
March is National Nutrition Month®
March 10 is National Women & HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
April 3–9 is National Public Health Week
April 23–29 is National Volunteer Week
May is Mental Health Month
May is Trauma Awareness Month
May 21 is the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial
May 21–27 is National Hurricane Preparedness Week
Is Your Cell Phone on ICE?
An idea developed by a paramedic in Britain is gaining popularity in the United States. Putting the letters "ICE" (for In Case of Emergency) in your cell phone’s address book with emergency contact information could help a rescuer contact the appropriate person if you are incapacitated. The London bombings of July 2005 sparked international interest in this simple practice.
Regional Coordinator Contact Information
| Elizabeth H. Fitch, M.P.A. |
|
| Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center |
Phone: (404) 562-4276
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| 61 Forsyth Street, SW |
Fax: (404) 562-7899
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| Suite 5B95 |
E-mail: elizabeth.fitch@hhs.gov
|
| Atlanta, GA 30303 |
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Last Updated on 8/14/2006
