Volunteers

The Crawford County Health Department recently received notification that its application to host a Medical Reserve Corps has been approved. The local unit will be known as the Crawford County Medical Reserve Corps.

The Medical Reserve Corps was created in 2002 following President Bush's State of the Union Address in which he asked all Americans to support their country and volunteer. The Medical Reserve Corps is a component of the larger Citizen Corps which includes other volunteer groups such as CERT, Fire Corps, and VIPS. The Office of Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (OCVMRC) is housed within the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. The MRC provides a foundation for medical professionals and others to volunteer their time to strengthen local response efforts.

MRCs are locally based units that provide community residents a way to volunteer their time to support their community. These units allow for trained volunteers to be used in an organized manner. MRC units are used to supplement existing response resource and not replace them. Situations in which volunteers could be used are at a mass vaccination and dispensing clinics, disaster sheltering, or other public health emergencies. Types of volunteers can include medical professionals such as nurses, doctors, pharamacists, and veterinarians, who can provide medical expertise, or non-medical volunteers who can be used in non-medical roles that best fit the skills they possess. Volunteers from all types of educational, professional, and employment backgrounds are encouraged to apply. MRC volunteers are trained using basic guidelines set forth by the OCVMRC.

For more information, visit the Medical Reserve Corps website at www.medicalreservecorps.gov. If you would like to apply to volunteer with the Crawford County Medical Reserve Corps, please print off an application below, fill it out, and send it in.

 

 

The Crawford County Health Department is seeking volunteers to to join a volunteer unit that would assist us with the response to public health emergencies when they occur. Examples might include an influenza pandemic in which all residents of the county would need vaccinated in a 48 hour period or if a major earthquake were to hit our region and assistance would be needed to operate a temporary shelter for special needs populations.

There is not a big time commitment involved to become a volunteer. Meetings will generally be held once a quarter and training exercises may occur once a year.

If you would be interested in joining our volunteer medical unit, please print off a Volunteer Application from the link below, fill it out, and return it to us. We will then notify you of future meetings of the unit and would look forward to meeting you then.

After September 11, 2001, our vulnerability in Crawford County has been a key concern. In light of this the Crawford County Health Department is in need of volunteers. The staff of the Health Department would not be adequate to completely handle all tasks required in the event of a disaster, either natural or man-made. A variety of volunteers are needed - medical professionals, secretaries, errand runners, traffic control, etc. If you are interested and at least 18 years of age, please click the Volunteer Application link below to print off an application to fill out.

 

Volunteer Application (PDF file, Adobe Reader required)

Volunteer Application (Microsoft Excel file)

 

Volunteers may be asked to help in situations where the following bioterrorism agents have been used:

Anthrax

• Information can be found on the CDC's Anthrax training page.
• Anthrax Fact Sheet

Tularemia

• Information can be found on the CDC's Tularemia page.
• Tularemia Fact Sheet

Plague

• Information can be found on the CDC's Plague training page.
• Plague Fact Sheet

Smallpox

• Information can be found on the CDC's Smallpox training page.
• Smallpox Fact Sheet

Others - CDC List of Bioterrorism agents/diseases

 

Updated 3/1/2010