The Readiness Dispatch

  SPRING 2009, ISSUE 3
The Readiness Dispatch Archives 
Enroll in the MRC and ECP program
Welcome to the The Readiness Dispatch. This newsletter is used for updates and information about the Emergency Credentialing Program and the Medical Reserve Corps. 
 
Enroll in the MRC and ECP program
In An Emergency,
ECPVolunteers
How Will You Respond?
 
BE THE RESPONSE.
WHY VOLUNTEER?
In the past year alone, there were 75 major Federal Disaster Declarations in the United States caused by weather-related events. So far in 2009, there have been 19 major Federal Disaster Declarations, most recently for the Dakotas and Minnesota for severe winter storms and flooding. This declaration follows the federal disaster declarations that came as a result of extensive damage caused by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike throughout the Gulf Region in September 2008 and those areas of California struck by wildfires beginning on November 13, 2008.
 
Enroll in the State of Connecticut Emergency Credentialing Program or the Medical Reserve Corps at the Yale New Haven Center for Emergency Preparedness. Join for yourself. Join for your family. Join for your community. Please visit
www.ct-esar-vhp.org or 
www.mrc-ynh.org, or call (203) 688-3224.
 
Is your ECP or MRC profile current?
ECP and MRC volunteers are reminded that they should keep their contact information current.
For questions, please call
(203) 688-3224, or email ECP@ynhh.org or MRC@ynhh.org.
Drills and Exercises...Prepping for the Future
As volunteers in the ECP/MRC programs, we all are aware of the fact that we might be called on at any time to respond to an emergency to provide support using our own unique skills. Most of us have never worked in a large-scale emergency effort, however. So how does one marry professional skills with those of a disaster responder?
 
The answer is drills and exercises. These run the gamut from the theoretical "table-top" exercise, where key players respond to a scenario, to a "full-scale" exercise, which includes a full simulation of a disaster event, involving staff, equipment, first responders and disaster volunteers.
 
CT ECP tries, whenever possible, to include our volunteers in these activities, whether planned by one of the Centers of Excellence (Hartford Hospital or Yale New Haven Health) or by an individual facility. Please watch for future announcements regarding these training opportunities!
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
CongressOn March 31, 2009, the Congress passed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.  The Medical Reserve Corps is included in the Health Futures Corps (Section 1302 Eligible National Service Programs).  The Act provides grant funding "to support or carry out national service corps programs to address unmet needs."  A short summary of the Act is available on the AmeriCorps website, www.americore.gov/pdf
/09_0331_recovery_summary.pdf.  More to follow in the coming months.
MRC and the American Red Cross
On April 2, 2009, the Medical Reserve Corps and the American Red Cross signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will solidify the relationship of the Medical Reserve Corps with the American Red Cross. The leadership of the Red Cross and the MRC have held several planning meetings to reach a common understanding of how mutually beneficial support activities may evolve in the future. There are three ways for the MRC and the American Red Cross (ARC) volunteers to work together: 
  1. MRC volunteers working as ARC volunteers
  2. MRC volunteers working alongside ARC volunteers
  3. ARC volunteers working as MRC volunteers

It is important that each local MRC unit and local ARC chapter begin to develop a functional relationship. More to follow in the coming months.

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   MRCLogo                                                                                                                      CT Department of Public Health
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