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 Home > How to Start an MRC > Technical Assistance Series > Coordinating With Your Local Response Partners > Coordinating: Working With Response Partners to Understand Risks, Needs, and ResourcesBuilding local partnerships and community networks serves a highly practical purpose. The objective is to make the most productive and effective utilization of your Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteers such that it also contributes significantly to your community. Thoroughly assessing your local risks and needs will help identify uses for MRC volunteers that initially may not have been considered. You will conduct a preliminary risk and needs assessment as you form your MRC. As a next step, include your response partners in this ongoing process. This cooperative assessment process will help identify the supplementary aid needed so that existing capabilities are not duplicated. Based on your risk and needs assessment, the ongoing nature of emergency planning also maintains practical contact with your response partners throughout the year and helps you stay focused on the purpose for this partnering. Assessing Local Risks and NeedsAn assessment can be a highly technical, time-consuming process, particularly when considering the factors involved in community medical and public health preparedness. The amount of information you might need to collect and evaluate to fully plan for your area may seem overwhelming. It is important not to let this objective interfere with the basic principles of assessment, which can be implemented more simply. Similar to other aspects of the MRC, assessment is a learning process. You will build your capabilities in this area—as with all areas—one step at a time. Initially, you may not have the resources to conduct the assessment you would prefer or need. However, by beginning sooner rather than later, you can begin to build the sophistication you eventually will require. Previous | Table of Contents | Next Last Updated on 8/18/2006 |
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