News

Past Newsletters

Winter 2010

  • POD 102 Training on March 9th - the next step in preparing leaders to serve in a biological attack or disease outbreak requiring medication distribution.
  • Volunteer at a rabies clinic for the animals of Franklin County on March 19th!
  • Volunteer at the HOSA Conference - help judge high school students competing in different medical fields (this is always a great event and they need 100 judges, who are public health professionals, nurses, EMTs and all the rest).
  • Join our teams, meet our coordinators, and check out some News and Notes from our partners.
  • A HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers who have helped us make this H1N1 vaccination effort such a success. THANK YOU!

Spring 2009

  • Operation Pills in People Full-Scale Exercise Postponed
  • Sign Up for Outreach at Summer Festivals: Spread the Word about Preparedness and the MRC
  • MRC Volunteers Trained and On Call for 2009 H1N1 Outbreak
  • Planning and Preparing for a Possible Pandemic Flu
  • Public Health Emergency Training: Mass Anitibiotic Dispensing for First Responders
  • Join Our Volunteer Teams

Winter 2009

  • Operation Pills in People: MRC To Play an Important Role In a Full-Scale Exercise
  • Sign Up for Our POD Workshop: February 19
  • MRC Volunteers Deployed in September 2008 Windstorm
  • Free CEUs with online Psychological First Aid Course
  • New Year’s Resolution Idea: Complete Your Orientation In-Person or Online!
  • News and Notes from our Partners
  • Oxygen Trailer Training: Join Our Advanced Care Shelter Team!

Summer 2008

  • Help Franklin County Prepare:
    Volunteer Opportunities at Westerville Music & Arts Festival and Dublin Irish Festival
  • Animal Response Team Training: August 27th
  • FC&C MRC Update on Identification Badges
  • JOIN OUR NEW VOLUNTEER TEAMS
  • Preparedness Quiz
  • Other Exercises and Trainings
  • Emergency Kit Tip: Include First Aid Supplies
Newsletter Archive
   
     

Becoming an MRC Leadership Volunteer

Many Franklin County & Columbus Medical Reserve Corps (FC&C MRC) volunteers have contacted our offices interested in becoming Leadership Level volunteers. That’s great! We are glad to have you. Leadership Level participation allows volunteers with an interest in taking on more responsibility in a disaster to help us keep Franklin County healthy through any type of disaster. It requires no regular or weekly time commitment, only four hours of volunteer time per year, in addition to a series of trainings. This important and valuable role in your community requires each volunteer to complete the following:

  • The FC&C MRC Orientation, either in-person or online
  • The online National Incident Management System trainings 100 and 700
  • Participation in an exercise or drill
  • Safety: Non-Medical folks need the MRC on-line HIPAA and blood borne pathogens training modules
  • Psychological First Aid or other Mental Health in Disasters Course
  • Volunteer time of at least four hours per year
  • Additional training of your choice, once per year, as a ‘refresher’

If you have already completed any of these trainings in another setting, proof of course completion can be presented to the FC&C MRC Coordinator. Each Leadership Team volunteer must also choose to serve on at least one of our response teams. We have currently launched five response teams, and will continually be adding more as volunteers become interested in different areas. As of today, volunteers may sign up for either the Techie, Somali Language, Spanish Language, American Sign Language or POD Team. Ready to get started? Great! The first step is to let the FC&C MRC Coordinator know you are working towards becoming a leadership level volunteer, as many of you have already done. The next step is to attend an MRC orientation, like the one being held on October 24th (see page 2). Once those two steps are complete, you can start working on your online courses. These are very straightforward courses, and after completing the orientation session, volunteers should be prepared for them. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggests that all disaster responders take two online courses in the Incident Command System, ICS 100, Introduction to Incident Command System; and 700, National Incident Management System. Ask the FC&C MRC Coordinator for directions about how to complete these courses. Once the course is complete, please email or mail a copy of your certificate to the FC&C MRC Coordinator, Tessa Mott, at mrc@franklincountyohio.gov.