Sacred Heart University Partners with Region 1 Medical Reserve Corps

According to Dr. Linda Strong, Professor of Nursing at Sacred Heart University and member of the Stratford Trumbull Monroe MRC, "Sacred Heart University is taking a leadership role in Fairfield County with a proposal to develop a Student Medical Reserve Corps, the model of which it hopes to see replicated by other institutions of higher learning in the region". Dr. Strong brought together representatives from various university disciplines and with Monica Wheeler, Region 1's MRC representative who offered support for the benefits of a student MRC in Region 1, received an overwhelming vote to move this project forward. Bonus - faculty and staff can join!

Looking to colleges and universities, which educate citizens of every community to be future professionals in fields of nursing, education, occupational and physical therapy, psychology, social work, criminal justice, and business, there is a significant opportunity here. For the Medical Reserve Corps there will be new resources to support capacity building efforts, for the schools there will be better prepared students and personnel, and for the communities from which students, faculty and staff come, there will be more volunteers to support their local MRCs.

The Region 2 MRC coordinators at the Jan. 2012 Region 2 MRC Meeting at East Shore District Health Dpt. (Left to Right) - Helyn Johnson (West Haven MRC), Gary Mason (Wallingford MRC), Bruce Varga (Milford MRC), Steve Tyliszczak (Shoreline MRC and Region 2 Lead), Cristie Durick (City of New Haven Dpt. of Health)

During the last quarter, Region 2 has seen increased activity in its Medical Reserve Corps program. In particular, Region 2 welcomes the Town of Wallingford Medical Reserve Corps as its newest unit, which is currently comprised of 86 active members, including licensed medical professionals.

The Wallingford MRC
is housed in the Wallingford Department of Health and is considered a valuable asset to the local and regional emergency response. The town has been a source of tremendous support for the MRC, through its Emergency Management Director and its Mayor, who provided access and use of the former Cook Hill Street Volunteer Fire Station.  

Region 2's Medical Reserve Corps leadership convenes monthly meetings. At the January 2012 meeting, the group welcomed the Wallingford coordinator, as well as a representative from the City of New Haven's Health Department. New Haven is in the early stages of creating an MRC unit consistent with the Connecticut MRC strategy.

Based on observations made during the October snowstorm and the subsequent activation of the CT-ECP program, all participating acute care hospitals will have their training updated over the next several months. The purpose of the updates will be to: 

• Familiarize current and new hospital contacts with their responsibilities during activation
• Management of staff who are registered as a
  CT-ECP volunteer
• CT-ECP volunteer skills validation and revalidation
• Volunteer database management
• Reporting requirements

The visits will also allow familiarization of the individual hospital contacts with the new ECP website and features. ECP State Coordinator, Joseph Filakovsky, DNP, RN, will contact individual hospitals to set up an appointment.  

For questions, contact Joseph Filakovsky, DNP, RN at (203) 688-4486 or joseph.filakovsky@ynhh.org.

According to the report of the Connecticut Two Storm Panel, Tropical Storm Irene and the October Nor'easter tested Connecticut's emergency resources in ways that they had not been tested in more than 25 years. It notes that in the past 25 years, Connecticut's infrastructure had increased significantly, while the manpower associated with the maintenance and repair of that infrastructure had decreased significantly. The result was that although Connecticut has faced far more significant storms, such as Category 3 hurricanes, both Tropical Storm Irene and the October Nor'easter left record numbers of residents without electricity, communications, heat or reliable supplies of water.

While the report dealt primarily with infrastructure issues related to loss of electrical power, it also noted issues with both emergency response and sheltering of storm victims. The report cited a need to "develop plans to serve individuals with functional and access needs, medical dependencies and other "at-risk" groups to assure that individuals can be served at local or regional shelters." This included increased accessibility to shelters for persons with functional needs; ascertaining the best ways to address the needs of residents who need electricity for medical needs but require little or no medical care; planning that includes sheltering of all medically compromised individuals as well as self care for medically dependent individuals who do not meet the criteria for admission to a hospital and planning for assisting at risk residents who require home care supports, oxygen and other health-related services in shelters.

The report also highlights the difficulty of attracting volunteers to citizens' response teams, especially when these uncompensated individuals are also involved in other municipal initiatives. It recommends a volunteer initiative group be formed within the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security to develop mechanisms in encouraging citizen involvement in disaster preparedness activites. To read the full report, please visit www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/lib/malloy/two_storm_
panel_final_report.pdf