Some people were not able to attend the SMC MRC meeting on Saturday, February 6th, so this newsletter will summarize some of the items that were discussed. We had 40 people (60% of our membership!) at the meeting.
MEMBERSHIP: (since our October meeting)
· Carol Klove, RN - New member; RN & Attorney
· Vera Goorchenko, RN – New member; RN
· Eric Shapira, DDS – New member; Dentist; Clinical Gerontologist
· During the past 2 month, we have had an additional 18 people (mostly nurses) requesting information or applications for the SMC MRC.
· The national MRC continues to grow rapidly with 82 new units and 30,407 new members in 2009. Nationally, there are now 199,500 members.
· A Menlo Park – Atherton MRC unit may be established this year.
· We have doubled in membership in the past year and have nearly 70 prospective new members. Because of Elizabeth’s increased workload at the HMB Police Department and the over-whelming job of managing membership, training, correspondences, drills, exercises, merchandise, supplies, and the website, the steering committee decided to:
o Remove our MRC unit from the California Healthcare Volunteers database, so that we will not get any further referrals.
o No longer accept applications for non-healthcare volunteers. Those volunteers may be best suited for a CERT team.
o Temporarily limit membership to 65 members and start a waiting list of those interested in joining. Currently there are 9 available openings with 5 current applications being processed. If we are able to obtain a salaried coordinator to assist with all of the communications and activities, we may again open the membership roster.
o Enforce the policy that to remain “active” in the SMC MRC, each member must attend at least 1 meeting, training exercise, or drill per 12 months. Currently there are 6 members that have not met this obligation.
RECOGNITION AWARDS: The City of Half Moon Bay’s recognition awards presentation for Dr. Kent Garman and Elizabeth Yano was postponed, since Dr. Garman was deployed to Haiti with the Bay Area (CA-6) DMAT team. While in Haiti, Dr. Garman sustained some injuries (fractured ribs?) and when he recovers, a new date will be established and notices will go out.
FINANCIAL UPDATES:
· Our only source of funding is through NACCHO (National Association of City & County Healthcare Officials). A grant application was filed last fall and we were recently notified that the requested $5,000 award (grant) will be funded this summer.
· We discussed applying for 501c3, non-profit, status for our MRC. This might provide for additional funding and also assist in our negotiations with San Mateo County regarding liability protection. Carol Klove, RN & attorney, could assist as well as a local accountant.
DSW RENEWAL: The expiration date on our DSW ID cards is 2010. DSW status does not expire as long as members remain with the SMC MRC, so we will obtain stickers for the ID cards that will declare them valid for 3 years or longer.
SMC MRC ID CARDS: We will research methods to make laminated, wallet-sized ID cards to identify SMC MRC members.
DHVC (Disaster Healthcare Volunteers of California) WEBSITE: Please update your profile if you are a nurse or are qualified to give injections. Also update your profile if your professional license has been recently renewed so that we do not receive alerts that your license is no longer valid.
MCMRC.ORG WEBSITE: Check our website periodically for information, updates, photos, and information for prospective applicants. In the past 13 months, the site has had 20,540 hits.
TRAINING:
· CERT TRAINING: CERT training is required for all MRC members. If you have not had the training, courses are offered by the many Fire Departments on the Peninsula. Mark Chidester (cscert@chidesters.com) is the new Coastside CERT coordinator and efforts will be made to have more CERT classes on the Coast. He will also initiate refresher CERT classes.
· CPR TRAINING: We will have a 4th CPR class this spring with the popular Mike Coffey of the San Bruno Fire Dept. Notify Michael or Elizabeth if you want to be added to the sign-up list. This may also be for non-members.
· FIRST AID TRAINING: The first class will be on Saturday, February 13th at the Woodside Fire Protection District Station in Redwood City. We have had 1 cancellation, so 1 spot is available. We have also started a sign-up list for a 2nd class this spring in HMB. The instructor is to be determined.
· PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID (PFA): We will have several options. Kevin Rose will reserve slots for our MRC members at several PFA courses that the County will be sponsoring at several local hospitals. Joan Ross, RN may also organize a class.
MERCHANDISE & SUPPLIES:
· Those that are moving away, do not want to remain in the MRC, or have not been to a meeting in 12 months (“inactive status”), should return their vests and ID cards to Elizabeth at the HMB Police Dept.
· All California MRC members that were signed up on the DHVC website last fall were to receive backpacks from Direct Relief International (DRI). Since there were over 4,500 people eligible and the organization has been involved with the Haiti crisis, the delivery will be delayed.
· We are still working on a grant to obtain automatic defibrillators (AEDs) for public areas in Half Moon Bay.
· Cathy Eide (Oakland MRC) has just received a $150,000 UASI grant for supplies for all of the active MRC units in the SF Bay Area. The nature of the supplies and distribution has not yet been determined and a meeting will be held next month to discuss the options.
· Through a Federal grant, Kevin Rose (SM County EMSA) has obtained a 24x18 ft. field treatment tent, generator, halogen lights, cots, chairs, and medical supplies for the SMC MRC. They are currently stored at the County warehouse and we are currently investigating the purchase of a shed or trailer as well as a storage site on the Coast. Please let us know if you are aware of a secure, preferably indoor facility.
FLU CLINICS:
· SEASONAL FLU CLINIC: We vaccinated 135 first responders (fire, police, city council, sheriff, city & county workers, and teachers). Thanks to Jane Kingston for organizing the clinic and to all of the great SMC MRC volunteers that did such a great job !! Dianne Baker, RN – Marilyn Dittes, RN – Joan Ross, RN – Jan Pretto, RN – Maureen McLaughlin, RN – Sandi Feaster, RN – Julia Wilson, RN – Jeffrey Wolf – Susan Vandiver – Beth Myers – Janet Didur – Shirley Madden – Lori Alexander
· H1N1 CLINIC: We held 2 small H1N1 clinics for city employees and first responders and gave 40 injections. Special thanks to Dianne Baker, RN for donating her time to do the vaccinations. On Saturday, January 30th, the county public health nurses had an all-day clinic and vaccinated those in the community that had not yet had their shots.
ACTIVITIES:
· SILVER DRAGON IV BIOTERRORISM EXERCISE: Thursday, March 11th from 9:00-12:00. A notice will go out within a week. We plan on reaching 2,000 homes and will be joined by the Canada Cove CERT team. In addition, Mark Chidester will be contacting over 60 other CERT team members on the Coast.
· SAN MATEO COUNTY EARTHQUAKE EXERCISE: April 21st. This will be in coordination with Seton Hospital and will give us an opportunity to deploy our new field disaster tent and medical equipment as well as test our communications.
· COASTSIDE DISASTER EXERCISE: Summer; This will involve many of the non-profit organizations and is still in the planning stages.
PRESENTATIONS: At the meeting, short presentations were given regarding the Haiti response and the Federal (CA6DMAT.ORG) and California DMAT teams. Future presentations will include earthquakes, tsunamis, and urban area search & rescue.
DISASTER MEETING SITE: REMINDER! In the event that a disaster occurs and all means of communications are disrupted, the SMC MRC WILL MEET IN FRONT OF THE HMB POLICE STATION. This location may change as the current Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is at the HMB Fire Station.
NEXT SMC MRC MEETING: The next meeting will be in May or June. There was no strong majority for holding the meetings on a Saturday or weeknight, so we will try holding the meeting on a Thursday evening and at the Ted Adcock Community Center in HMB.
THANKS TO ALL OF OUR MEMBERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND MAKING THIS SUCH A GREAT ORGANIZATION !!
Michael Klass, MD
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