The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) was founded after President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he asked all Americans to volunteer in support of their country. MRC is a partner program of Citizen Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to ensuring hometown security. Citizen Corps, along with the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Peace Corps are all part of the President's USA Freedom Corps, which promotes volunteerism and service throughout the nation.
MRC units are community-based and function as a way to locally organize and utilize volunteers—medical professionals and others—who want to donate their time and expertise to promote healthy living throughout the year and to prepare for and respond to emergencies. MRC volunteers supplement existing local emergency and public health resources. The MRC units are ot uniform and vary according to the number of volunteers, compostion of the members, housing authority, partnership associations, and mission.
MRC volunteers include medical and public health professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, PAs, EMTs, mental health workers, public health workers, physical therapists, veterinarians, epidemiologists, etc. Other community members, such as interpreters, chaplains, office workers and legal advisors, can fill other vital support positions.
Experiences on September 11th and during Hurricane Katrina emphasized that emergency agencies had numerous problems when individual, unsolicited, and un-credentialed health care volunteers showed up to help. In a disaster, an organized approach is needed for all medical volunteers.
In the U.S. and it's territories, there are now 787 MRC units and over 170,000 health care volunteers. Unlike other organizations, the MRC units include a wide variety of health care workers and support staff who are all registered and certified. They receive liability and workman's compensation coverage and receive the training necessary to help in disasters and to supplement existing local emergency plans and resources. They are included in the CalMed database so that they can be quickly notified in the event of a disaster.
WHAT CAN MRC VOLUNTEERS DO?
Support local public health, while advancing the priorities of the U.S. Surgeon General
Promote disease prevention
Improve health literacy
Enhance public health preparedness
Assist local hospitals and health departments with surge personnel needs
Participate in mass prophylaxis and vaccination exercises and community disaster drills
Train with local emergency response partners
MRC GROWTH
DATE
UNITS
VOLUNTEERS
2002
2003
166
2,602
2004
217
32,563
2005
321
55,110
2006
483
93,714
2007
710
145,976
2008
787
168,996
2009
856
189,000
MRC DEMOGRAPHICS(2008)
PHYSICIANS
13,122
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS
1,244
NURSE PRACTITIONERS
2,464
NURSES
48,249
PHARMACISTS
3,875
DENTISTS
1,823
VETERINARIANS
1,264
MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS
8,153
EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHS
7,956
RESPIRATORY THERAPISTS
441
OTHER PUBLIC HEALTH WORKERS
15,956
NON-HEALTH CARE WORKERS
(Support Staff)
64,449
COMPARISON: MRC VS DMAT (Disaster Medical Assist Team)
MRC
DMAT
Affiliated with the Surgeon General’s Office and USPHS
Affiliated with the National Disaster Medical system (NDMS) under HHS
Local organization focused on municipality, city, county, or region
Federal organization focusing on national disasters
Short commitment to response
Longer commitment to response
Provides manpower to support DMAT, American Red Cross, & other medical facilities and shelters. Does not supply medical equipment.
Provides manpower and medical supplies; Provides 72-hour self-sustaining medical facility
Volunteers are from all sectors of health care
Volunteers are primarily medical
Provides triage and primary care
Provides advanced medical care
Provides disaster response as well as public health education, first aid stations, etc.
Only provides disaster response
No pay to volunteers for service time, travel, housing
Volunteers are paid when on active duty. Travel and housing is covered.
