More than 650 volunteers have registered with the Southwest Colorado unit of the Medical Reserve Corps.
MRCs are community-based units of both medically trained and non-medical volunteers. Under the MRC program, volunteers are organized and deployed to strengthen the response to public health emergencies and natural disasters, to improve emergency preparedness and advance critical public health initiatives.
The Southwest Colorado Regional Medical Reserve Corps membership stood at 10 volunteers before 2020. It has now spiked to more than 650 people from a variety of backgrounds.
In recent months, local MRC volunteers have helped with case investigation, contact tracing, administering vaccines, performing COVID-19 testing and more. The MRC’s work helped propel vaccination rates in Southwest Colorado to the highest in the state. More than 35% of residents in both Archuleta and La Plata counties have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
For more information or to volunteer, visit www.sjbpublichealth.org/volunteer.
