Highlights from the 2017 Network Profile OF THE MEDICAL RESERVE CORPS

Background

The devastation caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks moved Americans to volunteer in masses and give their time, expertise, and heart in support of their country.

This willingness to respond in the face of adversity and the challenges of managing spontaneous volunteers shaped a civilian medical and public health volunteer corps. The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), a national network of volunteers organized locally to improve the health and safety of their communities, was born in 2002 after President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address.
Methodology

In 2017, NACCHO again examined how the MRC network has changed over time, how new programs have affected unit characteristics, and how the MRC program has contributed to the nation’s state of preparedness on a national scale. NACCHO updated the questionnaire based on prior results and input from unit leaders and sent it to 943 active unit leaders in January 2017.

Data were collected from January to March 2017. Overall, 769 MRC unit leaders completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 82%. When possible, NACCHO compared data from the 2015 and 2013 surveys with data from 2017 and included only those comparisons that represented meaningful differences between data from the two previous rounds of the survey. Some variations in the data reported between 2013, 2015, and 2017 may be due to survey refinement.

MRC Unit Snapshot

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Click here to download the complete 2017 report.