Oregon AmeriCorps* VISTA/ Medical Reserve Corps Partnership Project (MRC)
Oregon AmeriCorps*VISTA/ Medical Reserve Corps Partnership Project is a statewide AmeriCorps*VISTA program administered through the Oregon Public Health Division (Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program). This project places AmeriCorps*VISTA members throughout Oregon in selected Medical Reserve Corps Units or in the Oregon Public Health Division. The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) program in Oregon currently has 13 units and over 800 Licensed Health Professional Volunteers, mostly housed in local health departments or in an NGO (hospital/clinic or a medical society). The mission of the MRC Program is to improve the health and safety of communities across the country by organizing and utilizing public health, medical and other volunteers. The MRC Program is a national program, sponsored by the US Surgeon General's Office and includes over 856 MRC units in the US and US territories with 189,224 MRC volunteers.
All of the VISTA members will go through an intensive training program that includes current public health information, such as H1N1, volunteer management, leadership, sustainable resource development, healthy and life-skills management and an overview of the MRC program and of the Oregon Public Health Division. VISTA members serve as volunteer coordinators with local Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units and focus on indirect service activities such as capacity-building, volunteer management, training development, marketing strategies and sustainable resource development.
