AREA TOWNS – The Lamoille Valley Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) has 26 active members. Career EMT and Greensboro Bend resident Karl Stein emphasized volunteers don’t need a medical background. “We need people who know how to handle a hammer, we need people who know how to type. There’s no profession, no skill, big or small, that we don’t need people for.”
The MRC is a national organization created in the wake of 9/11, to meet the needs for a structured system to mobilize community members to be prepared for public health emergencies. The MRC plays a critical role in bridging gaps in public health, emergency response, community service and support for the underserved.
MRC works year-round to prevent illness, promote healthy living, and reduce strain on the healthcare system by supporting large-scale community events such as village green events and gatherings, parades and fireworks celebrations. MRC conducts health screenings, leads disease prevention campaigns, supports sheltering operations and advances public health preparedness.
Public Health Specialist Matthew Ward said, “Our goal is to not only increase engagement with our volunteers, but increase our volunteer numbers so we can have a greater outreach within the greater Lamoille Valley area.”
Stein says the MRC has two focuses; mass casualty events such as pandemics, train wrecks, or large crash sites. Their other focus is offering support services to the area, such as providing first aid at events, all the while coordinating and finding more volunteers. “We’re the people who put shots in arms, but we also set up the tents and the school sites, organize them and lay the chairs out,” said Stein.
In addition to providing medical support in the event of a crisis, they offer logistical support to ease the burden on first responders or involved organizations. “We very often have a supportive role, whether it be supporting a local hospital, the department of health with vaccines, we provide some of the extra bodies and those skills,” Ward said.
Ward and Stein say some of what they do is simple health education, such as CPR first aid classes, or safety campaigns like Stop the Bleed and Bright at Night.
“If there’s any kind of crisis, whether it’s a flood, or a family’s home just burned down, we can mobilize people to help, at any level,” said Stein. “We can organize people that will help muck out, or we can set up a shelter so the firemen and first responders have someplace to cool down or get oxygenated if they get too much smoke.”
Stein cited some examples, like their collaboration with Hardwick Area Neighbor to Neighbor (HANtN) group. HANtN can provide volunteers and the MRC can provide the necessary training for onsite safety, or set up crisis shelters for affected families until the Red Cross can arrive.
“It is a community effort. There are all of these entities that are there that we’re trying to connect with and work together, preferably beforehand, if things take a sideways turn,” Ward said.
“We are primarily a group of people that provide their expertise, unpaid,” said Stein. For very few federal dollars, we provide a large amount of people benefit, he explained.
In the wake of the current administration’s onslaught of federal cuts, the MRC won’t count on federal help going forward. “This is where those partnerships that we have, that’s key. Finding those people is huge,” added Ward. “The federal funding is an angle we are looking at, we do work with a lot of partners within the federal and state government, who have different roles and contribute different things, and they will be affected. How that will affect us, I don’t know.”
“Developing resilient communities involves involving everyone, not relying necessarily for someone to come running to the rescue,” Ward concluded.
For those interested in volunteering, visit rms.vermont.gov. The site will have individuals fill in basic information and a contact for the MRC to reach out to. One field will ask for the organization name: click on the field and drop down menu and select Northeast Kingdom or Lamoille Valley MRC, who will receive that information and begin the process of formally on-boarding each volunteer.
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
