Volunteer

The mission of the Northeast Missouri Medical Reserve Corps is to engage volunteers in strengthening public health, emergency response, and in improving community resilience through education, training, service, and preparedness. Therefore, making communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to respond to public health issues and disasters of all kinds.

• Organize and train healthcare and non healthcare professionals to respond to the specific needs of the community, thereby enhancing local emergency response efforts.
• Provide reserve capacity at the community level to respond to local public and community health needs and priorities.
• Create a framework to match volunteers’ skills with the community’s needs.
• Draw health professionals and non-medical community members into volunteer service.
• Promote healthy living and well-being by improving health literacy (promoting community health education), increasing disease prevention, and by working to eliminate health disparities.
• To improve individual, family, community, and public health preparedness.

In order to accomplish our mission and meet our goals, the strategic plan for the Northeast Missouri Reserve Corps is three-fold. To establish a rigorous and interesting training schedule that is available to all interested volunteers, a schedule which will be dictated by our local needs. Continue recruitment of volunteers through presentations within the medical community, schools, churches, and other community organizations. Promote community and individual disaster preparedness throughout Northeast Missouri. Continue to participate in training with emergency response organizations such as CERT, The Northeast Missouri Fire Chiefs Association, the American Red Cross, and the Adair County Ambulance District, as well as hospitals, law enforcement, and fire districts.

• To become an MRC member, you must be 18 years or older and complete an application.
• MRC volunteers are required to take the IS-100 (Introduction to Incident Command System) and IS-700 (National Incident Command Systems, An Introduction). These classes are offered online and periodically at the local level as needed by new volunteers and multiple local agencies. Learn more about the online training courses.
• We also encourage members to register with the Show Me Response. This is a state database of volunteers. 
• Another training source is MRC TRAIN. This is a learning management system with a centralized, searchable database of courses relevant to public health.

Underneath the Director and the Coordinator, the unit has three levels:  Level 1 is licensed Missouri health professionals; Level 2 is unlicensed individuals with medical experience or backgrounds (first responders, retired military medical, medical students, etc.); and Level 3, is non-medical personnel.  In an emergency, volunteers will be organized into teams (crews) and disbursed to the scene of the emergency.

The MRC is a welcome participant in local LEPC meetings, the Adair County Fire Chiefs Association, and hazardous weather briefings. Additionally, the MRC participates in local exercises through the local health department, law enforcement, and CERT. The MRC is notified by the city emergency management director, the county emergency management director, or the fire/police department when activation is required.  On the state level, we would be activated through the Department of Health and Human Services or through the State Emergency Management Agency.  Deployment is always optional.