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|  Emergency ManagementMedical Reserve CorpsSign up now!When you click "Sign up now!" you will be re-directed to the NYC Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) homepage on the ServNY volunteer registry to register as a new volunteer for the NYC MRC. Click here for more information on ServNY. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the NYC Medical Reserve Corps?The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH) NYC Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) enhances New York City’s emergency preparedness by ensuring that a trained group of health professionals is ready to respond to health emergencies. NYC MRC members represent a variety of health disciplines, including:
The MRC works in partnership with professional associations, universities, and hospitals to organize this multidisciplinary group of volunteer health professionals. Although the MRC is a federal initiative, NYC’s team was created to support the emergency needs of our local area. A rapid emergency response will provide a timely return to stability for our communities. MRC volunteers can play a critical role in making this happen by being part of apre-identified, pre-credentialed, and pre-trained group of potential responders. What does the MRC do?The primary role of the MRC is to help distribute antibiotics or vaccine during a health emergency requiring mass prophylaxis of a large number of New Yorkers. MRC volunteers may be called upon to fulfill any of several functions such as: medical evaluation, patient education, screening/triage, patient “flow monitoring,” vaccination, or distribution of medication. Volunteers may also be called upon to assist the City with mass sheltering operations, such as during a coastal storm, or to assist with medical surge capacity, for example during a pandemic influenza outbreak. Every effort will be made to match the emergency roles of volunteers with their professional skills and licensure. The MRC provides all volunteers with medication or vaccine to protect themselves, and gives specific training for any number of possible tasksWhere does the MRC fit within the larger NYC emergency response?During a health emergency:
Who is eligible to volunteer for the MRC?Any licensed or certified health professional or health professional student who lives or works in New York City can join. A large-scale health emergency would require the help of thousands of health professionals. Your individual licensure or certification, and state licensure and certification requirements at the time of an emergency, will help determine the role you may be asked to play. All MRC volunteers who possess professional licenses are required to keep their licenses current so that they may volunteer within their professional scope of practice. Volunteer licensure is checked regularly by MRC program staff.If I volunteer, what is the time commitment?We ask that MRC volunteers complete the available training modules through our website, as well as the in-person trainings offered to MRC members throughout each year. However, individual volunteers should determine their availability to attend the trainings. In the event that the Medical Reserve Corps is activated, services during emergencies require volunteer flexibility and commitment, usually on a 24-hour/day schedule. The expected time commitment of volunteers will depend on the scale of the emergency, as well as what other events are happening at the time. For some health emergencies, it may be as little as part of one day. For wide-ranging events like a smallpox outbreak, we might mobilize volunteers to work several 12-hour shifts over several days. We would ask that you commit to serve throughout the event for all of the timeslots we would need you to cover, but your availability to volunteer is up to you.How will I be notified if the MRC is activated?If we needed to mobilize the MRC, we would send out a communication to all volunteers using an automated system that would attempt to reach you using the information you provided when you registered. This is the same system that we test every quarter with our volunteers. The order in which the system will try to contact you will be determined by the day of the week and time at which an event happens. The system will continue to try to reach you until you acknowledge that you received the message. In this message, you will be given further instructions regarding deployment. During a large-scale emergency, it is expected that there will also be mass media announcements for volunteers.What should I do if there is an emergency and I have not heard from the MRC?If there is a health emergency and you have not been officially contacted by the MRC, you should check the MRC website and the local media to find out if any information about the activation of MRC volunteers is available. If there is an announcement in the media or on the website you should follow any instructions given. If there is no activation announcement then you should do what you normally would do. Please remember:
What if I am requested to assist but am unable or unwilling to respond?Volunteers are never under any obligation to participate in an emergency response. Volunteers always retain the right to decline participation for any reason. Will I be excused from work to volunteer?Employers are not required by the State of New York to release volunteers to participate in an emergency response. Volunteers must obtain permission to be released from their work schedule by their employer. What if I am a full-time member of a hospital staff?Volunteers who are full-time hospital staff members must be released by their hospital administration before they may volunteer during an emergency activation. DOHMH will coordinate with hospitals for emergency deployment of health professionals. What are the benefits of volunteering for the MRC?
Volunteers play a critical role in ensuring a rapid return to stability for their communities during a public health emergency
Do volunteers receive any compensation?No, you will be volunteering to help the City in a time of extreme need. Are volunteers covered by the City's insurance?NYC MRC volunteers assigned and deployed by NYC during an emergency are indemnified under General Municipal Law Section 50-k against malpractice for volunteer work performed with DOHMH. Volunteers are not covered by health insurance or Worker's Compensation. What Training is Available?Several live trainings are offered each year and are accredited for continuing education. In addition, training consists of several online tutorials. The online programs are accredited for Continuing Medical, Nursing, Dental, and Pharmacy Education credits. Only registered members of the MRC may participate.
Do volunteers receive identification cards?All volunteers are issued NYC MRC volunteer identification cards for use at MRC trainings and exercises, and during health emergencies. These cards are the property of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and must be returned to the DOHMH upon your resignation or removal from the MRC. I understand that all volunteers should have a Family Emergency Plan. Where can I get more information about this?All volunteers are expected to have a Family Emergency plan:
Family Plan templates are available from: Information for parents about preparing their children for emergencies is available from: What is the CERT program? Can I be a member of both the CERT program and the MRC program?The Community Emergency Response Team program, or CERT program, trains citizens to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their local communities. CERTs are groups of community-based volunteers that undergo an intensive, 25-hour training program in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and medical operations. MRC volunteers may belong to CERT teams, as well. However, during an emergency where the MRC is activated, it is requested that medically-trained volunteers report as MRC volunteers, and not CERT volunteers. For more information on CERT, visit NYC CERT.What is the difference between the NY State Volunteer Program (ServNY) and the NYC Medical Reserve Corps? Can I be registered with both if I live and/or work in New York City?
Volunteers may be registered with both the NY State Volunteer Program and the NYC MRC. However, NYC-based providers should join the NYC MRC to ensure that they are trained in NYC's specific emergency plans and may be deployed for NYC-based emergencies. Be sure to select the NYC affiliation if registering through the NY State Volunteer Registration page. NYC MRC will begin to uses the ServNY database to register new volunteers and manage its data. This does not affect the local affiliation of NYC MRC volunteers; training and program management for local deployments will continue to be under the direction of the NYC DOHMH. However, interested volunteers have the opportunity to register as State volunteers if they wish to do so with one easy registration. Malpractice Insurance and Indemnification
How do I sign up for the NYC MRC?Volunteers should register by clicking on “Sign Up Now!” on the MRC website and following the directions on how to register as a first-time user in the ServNY volunteer database Please provide as much contact information as possible because it is vital that we can reach you if we need to activate the MRC. For more information on the Medical Reserve Corps, send an email to healthmrc@health.nyc.gov or call 1-866-NYC-DOH1 (692-3641) or 311 in New York City. I signed up, but I haven't received any communications from the MRC at the e-mail address I provided. What should I do?If you provided an e-mail address when you registered for the MRC, you will receive communications via e-mail. In fact, you should receive an e-mail automatically generated by DOHMH within one hour of your registration. You will hear directly from the MRC program within a few weeks of your registration, as new registrations are checked during the first week of each month for the preceding month. Please make sure to add all addresses ending with “@health.nyc.gov” to your “Safe” list to ensure that MRC communications are delivered to your e-mail Inbox, and not your “Junk” folder. Volunteers without e-mail addresses will receive MRC communications by mail or fax. If you have concerns that you are not receiving information, please e-mail the MRC or call 212-676-8400.What is the difference between NYC MED and the MRC website?NYC MED is the single point of entry to access all DOHMH on-line applications available to health care providers. MRC volunteers may log in to NYC MED with their username and password to access the online MRC continuing education modules, participate in the Health Alert Network (HAN). The MRC website does not require a username or password. It is a public page on the DOHMH website where volunteers can get the latest information on the program, including answers to frequently asked questions, copies of volunteer updates, and links to educational websites of interest. How do I update my contact information?
You may also send contact information to the general e-email address: healthmrc@health.nyc.gov or call 212-676-8417. Volunteers with MACs should e-mail any changes to their personal information to healthmrc@health.nyc.gov or call 212-676-8417. How do I get my NYC MED username and password?Volunteers with e-mail addresses are automatically sent their username within 1 hour of registering for the MRC. However, all volunteers have a username and password, even if they do not register with an e-mail address. If you do not remember your username or password you should call the NYC MED Help Desk at 1-888-NYCMED-9, or email nycmed@health.nyc.gov. What should I expect during the quarterly tests of the MRC notification system?Volunteers are notified approximately 1-2 weeks prior to the quarterly tests of the MRC notification system. Tests are conducted between 9am and 6pm on weekdays. Volunteers receive e-mails, and calls to the work and cell phone numbers we have on file for them (as applicable). The calls come from a 615 area code (Tennessee) where our vendor is located. There is a pause at the beginning of the call, during which you must say “hello” to activate the system. This will be followed by a computerized voice that states, “Please press any key for an important message.” Our MRC-specific message then comes on reminding you that it is a test and that you would receive directions on where and when to report if there were an actual emergency. You should not hang up until prompted to press “2” at the conclusion of the call. You may only respond to a live call, i.e., when you have answered the phone. If it is only a message you receive on your voicemail, the call should simply end after our MRC-specific message. You cannot reply to a voicemail message. Alternatively, you may reply to the e-mail you receive by hitting “Reply” and typing the word, “Yes” in the body of the e-mail.I haven't received my MRC ID card or T-shirt. Who should I contact about this?ID Cards and T-shirts are sent out on a monthly basis to all newly-registered volunteers from the preceding month’s time. If you registered at the beginning of the month, you would not receive these items until 4-6 weeks later. Volunteers that are concerned that they have not yet received their ID card or T-shirt should healthmrc@health.nyc.gov or call 212-676-8417. How can I contact the MRC Program Staff?Staff Contact Information: Please note that staff cell phones are on 24 hours a day, so please do not call late at night or on weekends unless there is an actual emergency. How can I get more information about the NYC MRC?The NYC MRC web site has a wealth of information for current and prospective volunteers, including:
How can I get my colleagues involved in the NYC MRC?
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