Medical Reserve Corps
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Suffolk County Medical Reserve Corps
Thank you for your interest in the Suffolk County Medical Reserve Corps.
The Suffolk County Medical Reserve Corps is recruiting a cadre of volunteer medical professionals. These volunteers will serve to augment the Suffolk County healthcare system should that system be overwhelmed by a natural or man-made event. Additionally these volunteers will allow medical professionals to be developed, trained and deployed in a coordinated and controlled manner.
How Can I Volunteer?
To Volunteer for the Suffolk County MRC, click on the application link below and print out the MRC Application. After you have completed the application, please mail it to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, along with the requested documentation.
What Comes Next?
After your application is received and approved, we will provide you with a regular update outlining how the MRC is developing, free CME opportunities and other pertinent information.
In the event of an emergency, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services would contact you by phone, or send a text message to your cellular phone or pager, to let you know where to respond in your community
For additional information contact:
Suffolk County Department of Health Services
Attn: MRC H. Lee Dennison Building
1st Floor
Hauppauge, New York 11788
Phone (631) 853-5800 Fax: (631) 853-8307
Email: robert.delagi@suffolkcountyny.gov
Click here to download the MRC application.
About the Medical Reserve Corps
The mission of the Medical Reserve Corps is to establish teams of local volunteer medical and public health professionals who can contribute their skills and expertise throughout the year as well as during times of community need.
Overview
The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) was founded after President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he asked all Americans to volunteer in support of their country. It is a specialized component of Citizen Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to ensuring hometown security.
Citizen Corps, along with AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Peace Corps are all part of the President's USA Freedom Corps, which promotes volunteerism and service throughout the nation.
MRC units are community-based and function as a way to locally organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies, and promote healthy living throughout the year. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency and public health resources.
MRC volunteers include medical and public health professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, and epidemiologists. Many community members - interpreters, chaplains, office workers, legal advisors, and others – can fill key support positions.
MRC units are provided specific areas to target that strengthen the public health infrastructure of their communities by U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona. VADM Carmona has outlined his priorities for the health of individuals, and the nation as a whole, which also serve as a guide to the MRC. The overarching goal is to improve health literacy, and in support of this he wants us to work towards increasing disease prevention, eliminating health disparities, and improving public health preparedness.
MRC volunteers can choose to support communities in need nationwide. When the southeast was battered by hurricanes in 2004, MRC volunteers in the affected areas and beyond helped communities by filling in at local hospitals, assisting their neighbors at local shelters, and providing first aid to those injured by the storms. Over this two month period, more than 30 MRC units worked as part of the relief efforts, including those whose volunteers were called in from across the country to assist the American Red Cross and FEMA.
Program Office
The Medical Reserve Corps program office is headquartered in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. It functions as a clearinghouse for information and best practices to help communities establish, implement and maintain MRC units across the nation. The MRC Program Office sponsors an annual leadership conference, hosts a web site, and coordinates with local, state, regional and national organizations and agencies to help communities achieve their local visions for public health and emergency preparedness.
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