What is the Medical Reserve Corps?
The Medical Reserve Corps is designed to supplement New York City's health care system during a public health emergency. Some examples of an emergency event that would require volunteer medical staff are a smallpox outbreak, pandemic flu, or a large anthrax-related terrorist event. In the event of an event outside of New York City, we would serve as a conduit to help match NYC volunteers with out-of-area needs.
Who is eligible to volunteer for the MRC?
Any health professional who lives or works in New York City can join the Medical Reserve Corps. Your expertise and licensure or certification will help determine the role you could fill during an emergency.
What would I be asked to do?
Your health professional expertise or even your basic clinical skills are of great value to us. Your skills will be strengthened through our ongoing training sessions, and in most cases your skills will be reinforced at the site, while hands-on, such as working at a smallpox point of distribution. In general, during a public health emergency, you might be asked to fill several functions, including medical treatment, disease surveillance and detection, case diagnosis, education, vaccination, distribution of medication, and decontamination.
If I volunteer, what is the time commitment?
Medical Reserve Corps services during emergencies require flexibility and commitment, usually on a 24-hour/day schedule. The expected time-commitment of a volunteers will depend on the scale of the public health emergency and what else was happening at the time. For some serious events, it may be as little as one day. For catastrophic events like smallpox, we might need tens of thousands of healthcare workers for at least 5 days on a 24-hour/day basis. But your ability to volunteer is up to you.
What if I can only commit few hours per week/month? Public health emergencies such as biological, influenza, plague, smallpox, or other pathogen outbreak will require Medical Reserve Corps services for a medium or long-term assistance. DOHMH will optimize your time availability in the corresponding manner of the emergency.
What if I am a full time member of a hospital staff? Hospital full time staff members who volunteer will participate in the Medical Reserve Corps public health emergency, if they're released by their correspondent hospital administration. These issues were discussed with the Greater New York Hospital Association and Health and Hospitals Corporation. The MRC Task-Force will coordinate with the hospital administration where the health professional works at for emergency deployment.
What are the benefits of volunteering for the MRC?
- Opportunities through continuing education (CME, CDE, CEUs) to become better prepared to handle large-scale health crisis
- Access to DOHMH's Health Alert Network, a secure electronic website, which allows information to be shared quickly among hospitals, emergency departments, state and local officials, as well as law enforcement officials.
- A quarterly newsletter and website with the latest training opportunities.
- Personal satisfaction knowing that you're helping our City become better prepared to handle public health crises.
Will I be paid for my time?
No, you will be volunteering to help the City in a time of extreme need.
Are volunteers covered by the City's insurance?
Medical Reserve Corps volunteers are covered against negligence when volunteering with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Volunteers are not covered by health insurance, Worker's Compensation, or against gross negligence.
What CME Continuing Medical Education programs do you currently offer?
Because of the current atmosphere, the first education program will cover smallpox issues. The "smallpox program" is divided into 4 PowerPoint sessions available through our website for you to take at home or presented in a seminar format at your organization.
- Part One: Smallpox. A primer on smallpox developed by the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, University of Washington.
- Part Two: Working in a Smallpox Clinic. An overview of how New York City's Point-of-Distribution system would work. It includes information on how people will flow through a clinic, the roles of different staff, and command-and-control of the clinic operation.
- Part Three: Vaccination. Demonstrates how to properly vaccinate people against smallpox.
- Part Four: Vaccine-Take and Adverse Events. Demonstrates what people can expect after vaccination and outlines what adverse events can occur.
How do I sign up?
Volunteers can fill out a 1-page application available at our website, your professional association/educational institution website, or by calling or faxing a request to DOHMH. Once complete, fax the application back to us. Please include the organization(s) you are affiliated with, e.g. Hospital, professional association or other. For more information, or to apply for the Medical Reserve Corps, call 866.NYC.MRC1 or send an email to Healthmrc@health.nyc.gov.
