Courses

MRC volunteers are required to complete a couple of courses to provide a foundation of knowledge about assisting in an emergency event. Wachusett MRC will then provide additional opportunities to explore disaster preparedness, community assistance and public health. All courses are free and some carry CEUs for nursing.

The National MRC office has set up a Tier system. This will give you an orderly and complete way to build your skills and increase opportunities to support your community. Watch for new courses periodically.

Tier 1

Entrance level courses that give you an introduction to emergency event assistance and to personal protection.

When an emergency event occurs the rule of thumb is to take care of your family first, take some time to check on your neighbors especially those that you know may be more impacted by the emergency, and then prepare to help your community. Here are some courses to get you started. They are video/powerpoint presentations with a quiz/certificate at the end. Don’t give up, you can view and take the quiz as often as you need.

$

MRC 101 presentation

$

Ready Family Checklist

$

FEMA: for ICS 100

$

FEMA: for NIMS 700

$

FEMA IS-909

Tier 2

Will add to your skills and hopefully you will find them useful in your daily life as well.

Psychological First Aid (PFA) and Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) are promising practices for disaster behavioral health response and recovery. Both PFA and SPR were developed by the National Center for PTSD and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, as well as other individuals involved in coordinating and participating in disaster response and recovery.

$

Psychological First Aid

CDC and CDC Train offer several programs for emergency preparedness. Here are a couple:

$

The right message at the right time from the right person…communication.

$

Good Decision Making in Real Time: Practical Public Health Ethics for Local Health Officials

$

Decision Making and Problem Solving

Tier 3

encourages activities that may include taking on a leadership role in the MRC unit. For the Wachusett MRC this may look like taking the leadership to develop a committee and action plan for a specific topic. Examples would include leading an animal care group or a Healthy Homes project.

$

Nurses on the Front Line: Preparing for and Responding to Emergencies and Disasters

$

Psychosocial Impacts of Disasters on Children

$

Animals in Disasters: Community Planning

$

Public Health Law 101

Tier 4

Continues to build on what was started in all the other tiers- skills and leadership but also encourages getting involved in the community through local committees (board of health) or through other volunteer agencies (i.e. North Quabbin Coalition in Athol or Cultural Diversity group out of Fitchburg)

$

IS-200.C: Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response

$

IS-800.D: National Response Framework, An Introduction

$

Disaster Triage for Mass Casualty Incidents

$

Public Health Law: Past and Present

$

Quarantine and Isolation

Other Courses and Links for Emergency Preparedness and Public Health Information

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