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Developing: Serving a Satisfying Purpose

One of the most important ways to retain volunteers is to ensure their experiences provide personal satisfaction. A volunteer’s desire to give service can be stifled for lack of sufficient involvement with the MRC.

However, putting MRC volunteers to work can be difficult. They frequently will have to be trained for their more complex duties; they will not be immediately deployable in the field until their training is complete. When community situations or emergencies arise, activation of volunteers may consist primarily of standing by (i.e., awaiting the possibility of deployment but possibly not doing anything specific because local response efforts do not need supplemental backup from the MRC).

Emergencies that might actually require MRC support will likely be few and far between. This can contribute even more to a volunteer’s sense that he or she is not really needed or not really part of something that brings personal satisfaction.

One of the many challenges faced by MRC units is how to keep their volunteers engaged when individuals need more frequent contact and more concrete evidence of utilization. Conversely, some individuals may feel adequately connected to the MRC with relatively little contact or utilization. These differences are important to consider and accommodate. Some volunteers could drop out because they feel overburdened or underutilized.

One goal of the MRC program is for MRC units to make contributions to their communities in between times of emergency utilization, again usually in conjunction with response partners. Doing so will also provide more frequent activities for volunteers who need a way to remain connected to their units between more intensive engagements. Many of us feel a greater allegiance to people with whom we have strong relationships. We make commitments as much to one another as to the organizations to which we belong.

Some of the options explored by MRC units involve using volunteers in ongoing public health education and outreach efforts. This could include public immunization programs in schools or underserved areas. Another possibility is the promotion of mental health and wellness. Other MRC units are attracting and retaining volunteers by offering training, free of charge, that also may be useful to practicing medical and public health professionals.

Involving volunteers in regular exercises with other response partners helps them stay in touch with the unit’s mission and with its operating procedures. Other volunteers are engaged by training other volunteers. Some volunteers with medical and public health expertise are working with response partners to solicit resources in the community and to develop supply stockpiles and other resource needs to prepare for utilization. These volunteers may use their combination of professional expertise and leadership skills to work on behalf of the MRC at the local, state, and Federal levels.

Establishing the MRC and sustaining its growth as a national movement requires much work. Your volunteers may have additional skill sets and work experiences that can be utilized in an ongoing way to support the MRC’s overall growth.

Community Practices

MRC units are using their volunteers to improve access to health care for the uninsured and underinsured residents of their areas.

Some examples include:

Reno’s Diabetes Screening Project
Escambia County’s Heart Healthy Firefighters Project

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Last Updated on 8/21/2006