Grants To 42 Community Groups Will Support New Volunteer Medical Response Teams

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced 42 grants totaling $2 million to community-based organizations to begin building local Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units that will help local communities prepare and respond in the event of a public health emergency.

The local MRC units are comprised of local citizens, volunteers who are trained to respond to health crises. The volunteers' responsibilities will include emergency response, logistical planning, records keeping, assisting in public health and awareness campaigns, and public communications.

"The Medical Reserve Corps gives Americans an opportunity to help out in their community. All of us have talents and skills and there is no better place to use those talents then in service to the local community," Secretary Thompson said. "These awards will help empower our communities to plan and establish local citizen-centered volunteer Medical Reserve Corps units which will include not only physicians and nurses but also a broad range of skills in health and other fields."

"The USA Freedom Corps was created to enable more Americans to make a difference in their communities," said John Bridgeland, Assistant to the President for USA Freedom Corps. "Through the Medical Reserve Corps, health care professionals will have new opportunities to contribute to the safety and well-being of their communities through their volunteer service."

Each local MRC unit will be established, activated, and operated by the local community, in concert with established emergency response and public health systems. They will be an important additional resource to address health problems that a local community might incur because of a natural disaster or other catastrophic event. In addition, volunteers may help with local health campaigns—such as immunizations—and health education and awareness in the community throughout the year.

The MRC initiative will provide the local organizational framework, including training, locally agreed procedures and processes, and partnership building among local organizations, including local government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (e.g., faith-based groups, hospitals, health professions organizations, the American Red Cross, academic institutions and others).

President Bush, in his State of the Union address in January 2002, announced that he was launching the USA Freedom Corps to foster an American culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility. He formed the Citizen Corps initiative, of which the MRC is a part, to give individuals the opportunity to serve their neighbors by making our communities safe from threats of all kinds.

The Medical Reserve Corps is led by the Office of the Surgeon General in HHS. For more information including, the MRC guidance document "Medical Reserve Corps - A Guide for Local Leaders," information on training resources, and the monthly MRC newsletter please log onto www.medicalreservecorps.gov or call the Office of the Surgeon General at (301) 443-4000.

A list of the grantees follows:

Grantee	Location	Amount
Department of Health and Human Services	Anchorage, AK	$50,000
Volunteer Center of Maricopa County	Phoenix, AZ	50,000
Volunteer Center of Tucson	Tucson, AZ	50,000
City of Fresno	Fresno, CA	49,546
Morgan Hill Police Dept.	Morgan Hill, CA	41,830
Self-Help for the Elderly	San Francisco, CA	50,000
Larimer County Dept. of Health and Environment	Fort Collins, CO	50,000
Yale New Haven Health System	New Haven, CT	50,000
Delaware Health and Social Services	Dover, DE	47,240
Broward Emergency Management Agency	Fort Lauderdale, FL	50,000
Lee County Health Dept.	Fort Myers, FL	50,000
Florida Dept. of Health, Pasco County	New Port Richey, FL	50,000
Dekalb Co. Board of Health	Decatur, GA	50,000
Kane County Health Dept.	Geneva, IL	50,000
Dept. of Public Health	Oak Park, IL	49,500
American Red Cross of Central Illinois	Peoria, IL	48,421
Winnebago County Health Dept.	Rockford, IL	50,000
Marion County Health Dept.	Indianapolis, IN	50,000
Shawnee County Health Agency	Topeka, KS	50,000
Louisville/Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency	Louisville, KY	50,000
Institute for Human Services and Public Policy; Louisiana State University	Shreveport, LA	50,000
Fairview Hospital	Great Barrington, MA	50,000
Church of the Nazarene	South Dennis, MA	50,000
Western Maryland Area Health Education Center	Cumberland, MD	50,000
Franklin Memorial Hospital	Farmington, ME	46,364
Hennipin County Community Health Dept.	Minneapolis, MN	50,000
Metropolitan Planning Organization Mid-America Regional Council	Kansas City, MO	50,000
Citizen Corps Council of Yellowstone County	Billings, MT	50,000
Bayonne Medical Center	Bayonne, NJ	49,019
County of Middlesex New Jersey	New Brunswick, NJ	50,000
Bergen County Dept. of Health	Paramus, NJ	50,000
Clark County Health District	Las Vegas, NV	50,000
Broome County Health Dept.	Binghamton, NY	50,000
Nassau County Dept. of Health	Mineola, NY	50,000
Livingston County Dept. of Health	Mt. Morris, NY	36,900
Northern Metropolitan Health Care Foundation	Newburgh, NY	50,000
Tulsa Project Impact Foundation	Tulsa, OK	50,000
Lane County Medical Society	Eugene, OR	50,000
Multnomah County Health Dept.	Portland, OR	50,000
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology	Lancaster, PA	50,000
Harris Co. Hospital District	Houston, TX	50,000
Southwestern Vermont Health Care	Bennington, VT	50,000
Total of Grant Awards		$2,068,820

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news.