Training Opportunities

What Training Will I Need?

Emergency preparedness and response is a highly coordinated effort that allows communities to maximize their capabilities during times of extraordinary disorganization and stress.
You may already know how to perform some of the medical and health functions we so desperately need. In most cases, your training as an MRC volunteer will focus primarily on learning your local emergency and health procedures, trauma response techniques, use of specialized equipment, and other methods to enhance your effectiveness as a volunteer.

Perhaps the most important part of your training will be learning to work as part of a team. An organized, well-trained MRC unit will be familiar with its community's response plan, will know what materials are available for use, will know its response partners, and will know where its skills can be put to best use and in a coordinated manner.

Course Descriptions

Red Cross Shelter Operation
This course prepares volunteers to provide effective and sensitive manage shelter operations as a team meeting the needs of people displaced as a result of a disaster.

Basic First Aid
After successfully completing this course, attendees will receive a Red Cross Basic First Aid Certification.

Red Cross Mass Care
This course will provide an overview of the Red Cross Disaster Relief Operations and how Mass Care workers deliver quality service in the time of need.

Terrorism
This course is being taught by a Walpole Police Ltd and will include a general overview of Terrorism in the US

Heartsaver CPR with AED
After successfully completing this course, attendees will be able to use a defibrillator and will receive a Red Cross CPR certification.

Introduction to MRC for new Recruits
Learn what a Medical Reserve Corp is all about. This is your time to ask questions and join the Walpole MRC.

Avian Flu
The facts about the Avian flu and how it's contracted

ICS/NIMS
Incident Command System and National Incident Management system this describes the command structure at the scene of a disaster

Family Preparedness
This class goes over the steps you need to take to prepare yourself and your family for a disaster

Walpole's Emergency Dispensing Sites Plan
Learn what the specific plan for Walpole is, where the dispensing sites are, and what the role of the Medical Reserve Corp will be.

Behavioral Health Disaster Response
The presentation on bioterrorism agents will include a general overview of the Category A agents, including anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia, and viral hemorrhagic fevers. The overview will cover the characteristics of each agent, clinical description, reservoir, transmission, incubation period, infectious period, and general epidemiological features, such as the distribution or incidence in populations. The presentation will provide information regarding the reporting requirements and laboratory services available for confirmation. It will also identify the specific infection control measures for each agent, including the applicable isolation and quarantine requirements to contain person-to-person spread. The presentation will also identify the supporting role of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in outbreak management. Educational materials, such as relevant fact sheets for each agent, will be distributed.
Presentation Credits 1.5 CMEs and 1.8 Nursing Contact Hours

Website Trainings

It is important for volunteers to understand the National Incident Command System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) in order to work well on an emergency scene together. Town employees involved in emergency situations have to be trained in them. There are 2 very good introductory courses that can be taken on the web and you can get certificates for successfully completing the courses. They can be found on:

IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
This course introduces NIMS and takes approximately three hours to complete. It explains the purpose, principles, key components and benefits of NIMS. The course also contains "Planning Activity" screens giving you an opportunity to complete some planning tasks during this course. The planning activity screens are printable so that you can use them after you complete the course.

IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System, I-100
This course describes the history, features and principles, and organizational structure of the Incident Command System. It also explains the relationship between ICS and the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

Terrorism and Public Health Training

Mass Dispensing Sites: A Primer for Volunteers
We encourage all of our MRC Volunteers to take this important course. Please let the Health Department know when you have completed it.

Region 4A - Region wide Training
Please check this site periodically for new and last minute trainings.

Another great website course that you can receive certification and learn about mass dispensing sites. It's a primer for volunteers is:
University of Minnesota Center for Public Health Preparedness

http://www.region4a-mrc.org