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Organizing an MRC Unit: External Coordination

MRC volunteers are intended to supplement existing public health efforts and emergency medical capabilities in their communities. Regardless of how sophisticated your community is, the term supplement is used because volunteers always add to existing capacity. Generally, volunteers cannot replace professionally organized and staffed efforts. However, by serving, they can enhance your community’s responsiveness to various public health and emergency medical needs.

The MRC unit coordinator invests much effort seeking and developing relationships with response partners.

Response partners consist of the existing organizations in your community; many of which address public health needs or medical emergencies. These organizations have existing procedures and requirements for their paid staff. In this operational area, the MRC unit coordinator’s job is to facilitate the integration of MRC volunteers into these groups.

Developing this network does not occur simultaneously or immediately. You may begin by contacting the organizations or groups that may utilize medically trained volunteers.

Each MRC unit should think creatively regarding places in the community that may utilize its volunteers. The possibilities are nearly limitless because the MRC responds to public health needs and emergency situations. Therefore, the range of volunteer skills at the unit’s disposal may be extensive. Your volunteers will want to remain engaged, and locating areas where their skills are needed may require ingenuity. The payoff always yields a stronger, more tightly-knit community.

When working with local response partners, external coordination may entail:

Developing a community network that consists of organizations or groups that can utilize your MRC volunteers. Your network may include partners in your local community, county, state, and region, depending on your range of engagement. You will work with these partners to determine their specific needs for volunteers and their training, conducting exercises, and other preparatory requirements. Working with your local Citizen Corps council, if one has been established, also may be invaluable.
Working with response partners to understand risks, resources, and needs, and to plan for emergencies and determine other ways your volunteers can help. This also is an effective way to maintain communication with response partners throughout the year and to remain focused on the objectives.
Communicating during and post-response activities after an emergency or non-emergency event is essential to facilitating information transfer between your unit’s volunteers and response partners and to learning from the methods that succeeded during the most recent engagement or emergency. Communicating clearly improves your unit’s responsiveness and effectiveness.
Identifying activities during non-emergency periods allows you to utilize your volunteers in meaningful ways throughout the year and may strengthen your MRC unit’s relationship with its existing partners. Identifying these activities also can extend and further develop your community network by involving new partners whose needs are less disaster oriented. This additional effort will strengthen your unit and your community by ensuring broad-based participation.

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Last Updated on 8/16/2006