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What is the Medical Reserve Corps?
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The MRC was founded after President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, in which he asked all Americans to volunteer in support of their country. It is a partner program with Citizen Corps, a national network of volunteers dedicated to ensuring hometown security. Citizen Corps, along with AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and the Peace Corps are part of the President's USA Freedom Corps, which promotes volunteerism and service nationwide.
MRC units are community-based and function as a way to locally organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies and promote healthy living throughout the year. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency and public health resources.
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Who Can Join the Medical Reserve Corps?
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MRC volunteers include licensed medical and public health professionals such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, and epidemiologists. Many non-medical community members—interpreters, chaplains, office workers, legal advisors, and others —can fill key support positions as well.
MRC Volunteers must complete an approved training every 3 years in order to maintain Liability Protection through the Ohio Revised Code 121.404. An approved training list can be found on www.ohioresponds.gov and selecting "Training Opportunities" from the top tab.
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What Liability Protection is Available for Volunteers?
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Ohio Revised Code 121.404 provides liability protection to registered Ohio Citizen Corps volunteers (including Ohio MRC volunteers) during local, state or federally-declared emergencies, disasters, drills and trainings IF the volunteer has met training requirements (see above). The statute also exempts a registered volunteer's personal information in the Ohio Citizen Corps database from public disclosure. http://www.serve.ohio.gov/LiabilityProtection.aspx
- Register at www.ohioresponds.odh.ohio.gov for credentialing and liability puroses