The Barren River Area Development District (BRADD) Citizen Corps Council and area health departments (Monroe and Barren River District Health Department, which includes Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Logan, Hart, Metcalfe, Simpson and Warren) formed a regional Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit in the BRADD area to address the lack of manpower available to respond to disasters in the community. The mission of the BRADD MRC is to establish, support and guide a team of local medical, public health and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers who can contribute their skills and expertise throughout the year as well as during times of community need.

The MRC is a specialized component of Citizen Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to ensure hometown security. MRC was founded by the US Department of Health and Human Services after President Bush's 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he asked all Americans to volunteer in support of their country.

MRC volunteers include medical and public health professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and veterinarians. Other community members, such as interpreters, chaplains, office workers and legal advisors, can fill other vital support positions. This is an excellent way for retired medical professionals to keep their skills sharpened and continue involvement within their community. Non-medical volunteers can also become members by completing the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training and MRC training.

People often want to volunteer during a disaster. Untrained people with good intentions who rush to the site of a building collapse are likely to add to the number of victims and become injured or trapped themselves. MRC is a way to organize those volunteers before a disaster strikes. These volunteers are trained to work as a team and supplement existing emergency and public health responders. If a disaster overwhelms emergency responders, they can assist by applying the basic skills learned during training to help save and sustain lives following a disaster.

MRC volunteers can choose to support communities in need of volunteers nationwide. During the hurricane season of 2004 and 2005, MRC volunteers helped communities by filling in at local hospitals, assisting at local shelters and providing first aid to those injured by the storms.

A four and a half hour training, which covers an overview of Medical Reserve Corps, Biological Agents, Infection Control, Strategic National Stockpile and Large Mass Clinic, and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) IS-700 training, which can be taken online, is required to be considered an active member of the BRADD MRC. Free CEU hours are offered for these trainings.

Other recommended trainings are KY DPH Family Disaster Planning, CERT or Disaster Medical Operations Part I and II (CERT units three and four), KY DPH MRC Psychology of Disaster, KY DPH MRC Risk Communication, Incident Command System and Psychological Impact of Disasters and Catastrophic Events. Most of these do have free CEU hours available.

Trained emergency professionals from Emergency Management, Fire, Emergency Medical Services, Public Health, Mental Health and other community agencies teach these classes. Some of these classes can be taken online at ky.train.org.

The next scheduled MRC trainings will be Nov. 10, 2007 in Glasgow at the TJ Samson Resource Center on Happy Valley Road from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Nov. 17 in Bowling Green at the Bowling Green Fire Department's Training Center on New Porter Pike from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Registration is required at ky.train.org.

For more information on MRC you can visit the MRC website at www.medicalreserveccorps.gov or call Ann Bray at 270-781-2490, ext. 217. To register as a volunteer, please visit khelps.chfs.ky.gov.