By Louis Detweiler | A disaster just happened – what do you do? If there is a tornado, radiation outbreak, epidemic, or chemical spill, it will take an emergency crew precious minutes to arrive.
Detweiler
What can the average citizen do to help their family and neighbors? The Medical Reserve Corps trains ordinary people to help address emergency situations so the impact can be minimal. The local unit, the Medical Reserve Corps-Georgia East Metro (MRC-GEM) helps prepare for disasters and strengthens community resiliency. The MRC-GEM responded to help mitigate the last H1N1 epidemic and is available to help out when called.
The all-volunteer MRC-GEM trains each month to learn and reestablish skills to help save human lives and abate a potential disaster. Skills the MRC-GEM members train for include such incidents as CPR/AED, Radiation Response Training, Team Building, and Triage, to name a few. Team building is critical. Sherwin Levinson of Lawrenceville, the executive director, says: “You might have all the knowledge to get the job done, but if you can’t influence others and convey the information it’s not worth anything.” Triage training is reserved for large scale disasters where volunteers help to save lives by stopping bleeding, treating shock, and make sure the victim is breathing.
Learning to be safe in a heightened stressful situation is paramount. Responders must be cool and calm with knowledge, which can bring significant results.
Who can be a member of the Medical Reserve Corps? The door is open to everyone who can pass a background check. There are nearly one million residents in Gwinnett County and under 300 public health workers. If a disaster occurs involving several thousand victims, the employed health workers would be inundated.
However, a disaster doesn’t occur on a regular basis. You can’t keep an extra 100 employees around in case of an emergency. That is why there is a real need for volunteers to support Public Health through MRC-GEM.
Currently, there are approximately 400 MRC-GEM volunteers registered in Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale Counties. We need to increase our ranks. MRC-GEM volunteers include medical and public health officials, community members with a health background, technicians, EMTs, mental health workers, language specialists, engineers, law enforcement and anyone else interested in building community strength.
Members range in age from 18-year-old high school seniors to retirees. The Medical Reserve Corps is not just located in Gwinnett County; it is a national network that makes up 998 community-based units with over 200,000 volunteers, with units throughout the United States and territories.
In 2001, during the 9/11 terrorist strike, many volunteer workers were turned away because there was no way to organize and process them so they could help. After the 9/11 disaster, the government created The Citizens Corps. By creating the Citizens Corps, the United States had a way to respond to large scale emergencies. From the Citizens Corps grew the Medical Reserve Corps and national standards for the Citizens Fire Academy, the Citizens Police Academy and the Community Emergency Response Teams.
The goals for the members in MRC-GEM are to learn and practice how to be safe in times of disasters, extend safety and security to family, friends, and neighbors, and how to effectively help others.
- Most training sessions are held at the East Metro Health District, 2570 Riverside Parkway, Lawrenceville. For more information, go to www.mrcgem.com. Contact the office at 678-723-8436 or via email at membership@mrcgem.com.
Follow Us