Andrea Boissevain, Assistant Director of Health and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Sandi Sharp, MRC Coordinator

 **The Stratford-Trumbull-Monroe MRC will offer a Worker’s Safety Course in April 2010.  Please stay tuned for details. ***

**For information on the MRC’s education and training plans click here. ***

**For the latest MRC quarterly newsletter click here. ***

 OSHA Medical respirator evaluation questionaire click here.  

The Stratford-Trumbull-Monroe Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a group of medical and non-medical volunteers organized to respond to public health emergencies in the three-town region. The MRC is a specialized component of Citizen Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to ensuring homeland security. The MRC program was created in response to President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he asked all Americans to volunteer in support of their country.

The Stratford-Trumbull-Monroe MRC is operated by the Stratford Health Department and Trumbull-Monroe Health District. Our MRC is currently focused on preparing for and responding to local public health emergencies such as influenza outbreaks, and natural or man-made disasters. All aspects of planning, establishing, and operating a Point of Dispensing, or “POD,” requires assistance from our MRC volunteers. During the 2009 / 2010 flu season our MRC volunteers assisted in over 15 seasonal and H1N1 vaccination clinics, donating over 700 hours to protect the health of our community.

Our emergency plans specifically state that the MRC is a critical component to supplementing public health staff in all aspects of the operation. This includes everything from medical clinicians to individuals with non-medical skills who can manage supplies, registration and other aspects of logistics.

Some of the activities planned for 2010 include:

·        Quarterly meetings

·         Workers’ Safety course in April

·        Incident Command System (ICS) training for courses in Emergency Preparedness sponsored by FEMA. Members will receive free training and earn credits for ICS courses.  We will offer ICS 100a in May and IS 700 in August.

·        Regional meeting with training and interesting presentations in June.

·        A POD orientation class in October.

·        Drills where members will participate in public health activities such as flu clinics, health screenings and outreach activities.

·        Other courses we are considering offering locally or regionally include Red Cross Sheltering, N95 Fit Testing, Psychological First Aid, and CPR and AED training.

Members will also have access to an array of online courses, many of which are offered at no cost, where they can earn continuing education credits.

Although “medical” is in our name, membership is NOT limited to medical personnel. Most everyone has skills, that when shared, can be an asset to the community and invaluable in their neighbors’ time of need. Current MRC members include practicing or retired physicians, nurses, public health professionals, pharmacists, emergency medical technicians, as well as people with clerical and organizational skills from various professions. Whatever skills you bring, chances are we could use them in our MRC!