Clark County Medical Reserve Corps

The mission of the Clark County MRC is to strengthen the health, safety, and preparedness of Clark County by organizing, training, and involving volunteers to assist in a public health emergency and to provide surge capacity during public health challenges.

The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a national network of volunteers, organized locally to improve the health and safety of their communities. The MRC network comprises 990 community-based units and almost 200,000 volunteers located throughout the United States and its territories.

The local Clark County MRC unit was organized in 2007 under the authorization of the Clark County Health Department (CCHD). Its volunteers include medical professionals, such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and technicians, as well as other community members with no healthcare backgrounds. Thus, ANYONE can be a volunteer.

The unit attempts to train and engage these volunteers to accomplish the mission statement given above.

Though the Clark County MRC has never had to respond to any local disasters or emergencies, there have been calls extended for volunteers state-wide during the 2011 flooding in Western Kentucky, and in the aftermath of the West Liberty, KY, tornado, in 2012.

Beyond disasters and emergencies, volunteers frequently contribute to community activities that promote healthy habits, such as obesity reduction, and tobacco cessation.

The Clark County MRC unit has distributed Home Safety Tip Bookmarks to county-wide 5^th graders before summer vacation, as well as Red/Green Emergency HELP Window Signs at area businesses around Christmas. It also offered support with a Safety Booth for the 2014 Preservation Pedal Cycling Event in Winchester, and worked with the Bluegrass Chapter of the American Red Cross to offer a mass shelter training. The unit has also offered a pet preparedness training course that was open to the public, and assisted the CCHD with one of its rabies clinics.

More recently, a collaboration has been initiated with the high school Area Technology Center’s HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) students with some joint projects, which included assisting attendees at the Generations Center with assembling disaster preparedness kits, during a blood pressure screening event, and operating a Zika disease / mosquito awareness booth at the annual Beer Cheese Festival.

FRANKFORT, KY (Sep. 3, 2019) – The Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH), within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), is reminding the public that households, businesses and communities can increase their preparedness by following this year’s theme of Prepared, Not Scared. Be Ready for Disasters during September – National Preparedness Month (NPM).

This nationwide effort is organized each year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to encourage citizens to prepare and plan for emergencies in their homes, business and schools. This yearly observance was founded after 9/11 to increase preparedness awareness in the U.S., a fitting time to join the effort to help communities prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters and potential terrorist threats, and to encourage individuals to take action.

"Emergencies and disasters can happen anytime and anywhere, often without notice and can leave us scared and confused,” said Jim House, Preparedness Branch Manager at DPH. "By taking the time to follow the ten steps outlined below, we all can better prepare ourselves and our communities should emergencies or disasters strike. Remember that preparedness is a shared responsibility - it takes a whole community to prepare and respond to emergencies.”