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Message From the Surgeon General: September 18, 2005

Hurricane Katrina Response Efforts

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.
VADM, U.S. Public Health Service

Last Updated on 5/25/2006