Registered on March 26, 2007, with the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Ashland County-City Medical Reserve Corps, (MRC Unit 1181) is a part of the Ashland County-City Health Department Division of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Health Education, Indoor Air Quality, Public Information and MRC Unit 1181. It exists to serve Ashland City and Ashland County, the 15th largest micropolitan area in the State of Ohio. The Ashland County-City MRC addresses surge capacity in a local disaster, including assisting extended-care facilities (medical surge), mass-care, and mass prophylaxis/vaccination clinics or other major public health needs. The unit is partnered with the Red Cross, Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board, Ashland County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, Samaritan Regional Health System and the Ashland Salvation Army to be coordinated in its response to a disaster. MRC Unit 1181 does not limit recruitment to just licensed health and medical personnel, but includes those that have skills that can also be of great benefit in disaster operations, including secretaries, medical file scanners, public service announcement writers, photographers, call specialists, educators, supply transporters, inventory specialists, etc. This unit continually recruits members for its MRC by making presentations and/or delivering brochures to its municipal libraries, meetings of professional organizations, mailings, health fairs, and other community gatherings. The unit has a core of 48 volunteers and has developed a core curriculum based on the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)-recommended MRC core competencies. MRC volunteers are included in exercises planned by the Ashland County Health Department, Ashland County Emergency Management Agency, the Ashland County Local Emergency Planning Committee, North East Central Region 5 of Ohio Homeland Security, and Ashland Red Cross. All prospective volunteers are encouraged to contact the Ashland County-City MRC Director. Our Two-Fold Mission Statement is: We prepare to assist pre-identified Ashland County agencies in the deployment of critical resources in the event of a local emergency. In times of non-emergency, we promote the health education objectives of the U.S. Surgeon General and provide depth to fulfilling the strategic goals of the Ashland County-City Health Department. The ACCMRC Vision Statement is: The vision of the ACCMRC is to enlist citizen volunteers to assist in the establishment of an organized pool of resources capable of being deployed to support the Ashland County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (ACOHSEMA), Ashland County Chapter American Red Cross (ACARC), Samaritan Regional Health System (SRHS), Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board (ACMHRB), Salvation Army of Ashland, Ohio (SAAO), and the Ashland County-City Health Department (ACCHD) in the event of a major emergency. Recognizing that we are part of a national community of shared vision, our vision is to provide medical assistance, support and service whenever called upon to do so. We recognize in the larger vision that in the event of a wide scale public health emergency, there simply would not be enough public health staff to meet needs. While many people are willing to help out in an emergency; it is very difficult to quickly verify and organize volunteers in the midst of an event. Pre-identifying volunteers, pre-training, and verifying credentials before an emergency provides a pool of available trained volunteers The ACCMRC Strategic Goals are: 1) Support those pre-identified services in the Ashland County community that are engaged in the health and welfare of the residents in time of crisis. 2) Create one or more teams of volunteer medical, public health, and non-medical professionals to help during emergencies and disasters. 3) Provide assistance and depth to local emergency response teams, public health, and health care infrastructure. This assistance may prove to be vital to our community’s operational stability during the first hours and days following an event. 4) Offer vital health education materials and health screenings to the Ashland County community through the ACCHD Division of Health Education; and offer depth to fulfill the mission, vision and strategic goals of the ACCHD. All ACCMRC staff follow the Incident Command System in responding to any Ashland County community emergency. In order to have ACCHD liability and worker's compensation coverage, all volunteer ACCMRC applicants that are accepted for service must complete an oath with either the Director of the Ashland County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency or the ACCMRC Volunteer Director. For more information contact: Ray Herbst, RS, REHS phone 419-282-4295 rherbst@ashlandhealth.com