The Reno County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), a newly revitalized volunteer unit that supports preparedness opportunities throughout the county, held their first meeting Friday afternoon at the Reno County Health Department. The unit director, Reno County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Julie Kallas, applied for a grant to enable the group to re-activate after many years of inactivity. 

The Reno County MRC is a unit that can be utilized for a variety of different opportunities. This can include handing out water at an event, helping cleanup efforts such as the wildfires that happened last year, helping with paperwork at a flu clinic or unit volunteers can help triage patients. The Reno County MRC unit is fully staffed by volunteers. Although many of the volunteers are medically trained, people who want to volunteer are not required to have a medical background to qualify. 

The Reno County MRC unit serves the citizens of Reno County by being available and prepared to help in any situation that can arise. Being that it is a volunteer group, when an event occurs that would need volunteers, each person is asked if they are available to help as it is not a required response. 

To apply to become a volunteer with the Reno County MRC unit, go to the servks.org website and fill out an application. 

If you have any questions about the unit or about volunteering, please contact Kallas at Julie.kallas@renogov.org or 620-259-2698. Kallas said that they are restarting this unit from the ground up, so if you don't get a response on your volunteer application right away, please be patient as they are working hard to revitalize the unit.