If you are a Carver County resident over the age of 17 with an interest in supporting our mission, check us out. You do not need a medical background; all our members may contribute and make a difference. We have opportunities for people with diverse skills and interests. Common attributes of an MRC volunteer are flexibility during an assignment, ability to take direction in a command structure, and willingness to prepare themselves and their families ahead of time for local emergencies and disasters in order to be available to volunteer with short notice.
Our Mission: To strengthen the capacity of Carver County Public Health & Environment to respond to a public health emergency.
Are you interested in the bigger picture of the MRC? Visit the National MRC website where the profile of MRC of Carver County and other units can be found.
Registration is the first step to becoming a member of the MRC of Carver County. Go to the state-wide volunteer registry Minnesota Responds MRC at www.mnresponds.org and click the "Register Now" button to begin. Keep your username and password in a safe place for use later.
After completing registration, please take the free online course Minnesota Responds Medical Reserve Corps: An Online Orientation for Volunteers (.pdf) at www.sph.umn.edu/ce/trainings/coursepage.asp?activityId=9409. Upon completion of this course you will receive an digital Certificate of Completion. Save and email that document to us at mrc@co.carver.mn.us or fax it to 952-361-1360.
Your key contact is the MRC program coordinator, who will contact you after you register to guide you through the remaining steps of the application process.
MRC units across the nation strive to help their members get meaningful training in MRC Core Competencies (.pdf). MRC volunteers work under the direction of local Public Health staff. Many emergency responses are a collaboration with community partners including local Red Cross, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, Fire, local schools, Faith-based Organizations, and many others. Trainings help all of us to work more seamlessly together and increase our knowledge in key topic areas.
Members are offered opportunities to attend free face-to-face-trainings and to take self-study online courses. Classroom trainings are announced as they become available. Many are offered by other MRC units across the Metro Area. Feel free to attend them and network with other responders! When you complete a course, send a copy of your certificate of completion to the MRC program coordinator at mrc@co.carver.mn.us or send by fax to 952-361-1360. If you are trying to decide which topics to start with, we suggest Personal & Family Preparedness, National Incident Management System, Incident Command System, and Mass Dispensing and Psychological First Aid.
Below are some of the online courses we recommend to our MRC members. Please click on the blue course title to be directed to the course site.
The goal of this course is to provide the tools to help you develop your own personal preparedness plan. The course is divided into 6 sections which each take 5 to 10 minutes to complete. If you don't have a preparedness plan, please take this course.
This training is designed to provide an overview of the general operations of mass dispensing sites and serves as an orientation for individuals who may be asked to work in those sites during an emergency. All U of M MRC members are encouraged to take this 1-hour course.
In this 90-minute course MRC members will become familiar with the continuum of patient care following a large scale health emergency, the role of non-traditional care sites, and learn about the experiences of those providing care in diverse community-based settings in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.
This training provides an initial orientation to the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) for individuals who plan to volunteer during an emergency or disaster.
This FEMA course introduces the Incident Command System (ICS) and provides the foundation for higher level ICS training. This course is NIMS compliant.
This FEMA course introduces the National Incident Management System and provides the foundation for further higher level NIMS training. This course is NIMS Compliant.
The Center for Public Health Preparedness offers free online courses of interest to MRC members. Topics include Isolation and Quarantine, Disaster Mental Health, Personal Protective Equipment, Mass Fatalities, and Disease Surveillance, as well as several more: www.sph.umn.edu/ce/umncphp/
This schedule is updated frequently. Come back soon!
Carver County needs volunteers willing to help their community during emergencies or disasters.