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Access
a wealth of information, ideas, articles and discussion forums
regarding volunteers and volunteer issues at CharityChannel's
eNewsletters and many other helpful resources
for volunteer managers can be found at:
John
Clizbe, Emergency Planner
for the Alexandria Health District has written an excellent
article on Challenges in Managing Volunteers During
Bioterrorism Response, published
in the Biosecurity and Bioterrorism Enewsletter in November
of 2004 (BIOSECURITY AND BIOTERRORISM: BIODEFENSE STRATEGY,
PRACTICE, AND SCIENCE Volume 2, Number 4, 2004 © Mary
Ann Liebert, Inc.) This is a MUST read for
MRC Coordinators and other emergency volunteer managers.
To
read this article, click
here.
Other resources
may be found through these organizations:
| •
Volunteers
in Health Care |
| •
The
Civil Air Patrol |
| •
Association
for Volunteer Administration |
When
emergencies occur, people within a community may come from
anywhere, often without any training or prior experience but
with a desire to help those in need. This has been the case
in recent disasters and other emergencies for example, at
the Twin Towers in New York City and the hurricanes in Florida.
Although these “spontaneous” volunteers mean well,
they often overwhelm the responding agencies and interfere
with critical assistance to those in need. For this reason,
emergency planning agencies have been looking at the best
ways to manage these “Spontaneous, Unaffiliated Volunteers”
or SUVs for their maximum utilization and efficient management.
Here are some helpful suggestions in planning for the SUVs
from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) newsletter, “Taking
Stock”:
PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
FOR MANAGEMENT OF SPONTANEOUS OR UNAFFILIATED VOLUNTEERS—A
CHECKLIST FOR PLANNERS
Does the
plan contain procedures for the management and utilization
of volunteers?
•
Identify
the department/position responsible for developing and
maintaining a volunteer
•
management
plan. |
•
Identify
through whom and how medical facilities, field treatment
sites, shelters and other
•
permanent
and
temporary treatment facilities will submit requests for
volunteers. |
| •
Identify
the location and process by which volunteers will be processed,
staged and dispatched. |
•
Identify
if and how volunteer health care personnel will be processed
based upon proof of state
•
licensure/certification/insurance
or lack thereof. |
•
Identify
if and how treatment facilities will be matched with volunteers
and state/federal medical
•
augmentation
personnel: |
°
That is, state mutual aid & federal medical personnel
(DMATs, VA, and DOD) teams will
go to hospitals, casualty treatment sites,
field clinics.
° Unaffiliated volunteers possessing proof of
state licensure will be assigned to hospitals,
field hospitals, nursing homes, shelters.
° Unaffiliated volunteers without proof of licensure,
recent work experience or
qualifications will serve as runners,
litter bearers, aides, medical supply, medical
records, etc.
|
| •
Identify |
°
who will process volunteers and how badges (I.D.)
will be distributed.
° Who will manage and rotate volunteer work shifts.
° How will volunteers be housed and fed?
° How and when will volunteers be provided prophylaxis
if indicated?
° At the end of their volunteer work, who and
how will volunteers be screened for critical
incident stress and cleared before returning
home or referred for counseling.
|
Does
the plan contain procedures for emergency management of legal
issues and credentialing for medical personnel?
|
•
Identify
if and how augmenting health care personnel/volunteers
will be processed based upon
proof
of
state licensure/certification/insurance or lack there
of. |
•
Identify
the responsible department and position for coordinating
legal issues and credentialing.
>
Provide
7/24 contact information |
•
Identify
what forms, if any, health care personnel/volunteers will
be required to complete which
>
pertain
to liability, injury compensation. |
•
Identify state statutes which pertain to medical/nursing
services in emergencies, Samaritan laws
etc
which
could protect volunteers. |
•
Identify any departmental or state statutes/regulations
standing orders which may grant
expanded
scope
of practice for E.M.T.s, Paramedics, and nurses etc. to
administer medications. |
•
Identify any state statutes which grant reciprocity for
current/valid out-of-state medical/nursing
licenses
during state-declared disasters. |
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