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U.Va. PSYCHIATRIC MEDICINE DEPARTMENT AND U.Va. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE FORM MEDICAL RESERVE CORPS TO SERVE COMMUNITY

The University of Virginia School of Medicine is looking for a few good people. It is not Uncle Sam who calls, but this time the U.Va. Medical Reserve Corps (UVAMRC). The student and faculty joint project was formed to help strengthen local communities’ public health initiatives and emergency response capabilities, and has just received a federal grant to help develop the program further.   

“It gives us a way to connect back to our community. In medical school we’re in such a small community of our own, it’s like we’re in a bubble,” said Kimberly Dowdell, a student director for the U.Va. Medical Reserve Corps. “This is a way for us as medical students early on in our careers to reconnect with why we came to medical school. We came to medical school to help people.”

Two student directors, Dowdell and  David Beckert, have begun recruiting medical students to be a part of the U.Va. Medical Reserve Corps. New recruits will be trained in three core areas of outreach. They are:

  • Emergency response volunteers will function as a multi-discipline team during times of disaster. 
  •  Volunteers will participate in the ongoing administration of public health and education services to teach emergency preparedness.
  •  Augmentation volunteers will supplement other emergency response units where needed during a disaster.

“The unique aspect of our organization is that it is designed to sit in the School of Medicine and with coordination by student directors under faculty oversight,” said Dr. Edward Kantor, assistant professor of psychiatric medicine at U.Va. Health System and faculty director for the UVAMRC. “I think that by being exposed to clinical skills early and developing relationships with faculty in a mentoring role as opposed to just in a lecture role, our students have the chance to develop early interests in different areas of medicine and understand how to integrate education and community service.”

A multidisciplinary team of physicians from various areas, which include the Division of Infectious Diseases, the Department of Psychiatric Medicine, the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Division of Toxicology, will train volunteers for the U.Va. Medical Reserve Corps.  The Corps also has the support of local disaster response agencies and government agencies, including the Virginia Department of Health, Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, the American Red Cross and the Charlottesville-U.Va.-Albemarle County Emergency Operations Center. 

The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) program was officially launched in July 2002 by Tommy G. Thompson, United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, following President Bush’s call for volunteer service in communities across the nation. In addition, Governor Warner has included the MRC program under the Virginia Corps program.  

UVAMRC is one of 12 reserve corps projects in Virginia to receive funding from HHS, but the only one housed at a University. The federal grant UVAMRC received, in the amount of $49,744 per year for the next 3 years, will help fund the start up and development of the organization’s structure. UVAMRC is also looking for community health providers to be a part of their program.

For more information about the project or volunteerism, please visit www.uvamrc.org. For interviews, please contact the Media Relations office at (434) 924-5679.

December 19, 2003