HOWELL – A group of health professionals volunteered their time to make sure that the public was vaccinated as quickly as possible.
During the first few months of the year, vaccines were hard to find. Then, once the supply went up, the demand increased for trained personnel to administer them.
That’s where the Medical Reserve Corps comes in. The MRC is a national network of volunteers, said Monmouth County Public Health Coordinator Christopher P. Merkel. Across the country, there are more than 200,00 people in roughly 800 groups. They are made up of medical professionals and other volunteers. They were funded by the federal government shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001.
The local branch of it, the Monmouth County Medial Reserve Corps, has just under 400 active members, Merkel said.
Read that again – that’s 400 volunteers county-wide who spring into action when there’s a large scale public health crisis.
“They serve as a team during times of emergency or need in their own community and function as part of their local emergency preparedness teams. MRC units supplement existing emergency and public health resources and agencies such as Red Cross, local public health, fire, police, and ambulance services. The result is a collaborative effort that is prepared for large scale public health crises,” he said.
These volunteers have worked the vaccine clinics for months, starting the week of January 25, he said. They’ve also been assisting in testing clinics and the Monmouth County COVID-19 phone bank.
Dr. Hal Ornstein was one of these volunteers. He said that because of the pandemic it was the first time in a long time that he had been around such a large group of people. The vaccination site that he worked was at the county agricultural building.
“Monmouth County has been so supportive and motivated,” he said.
It’s slowed down in recent weeks, but he recalled the beginning, when people were desperate for an appointment. They were vaccinating 300-350 people per shift. He was inspired by the nurses who would say “One vaccine at a time.” And that’s how they got through it.
“The passion they had to make a difference” will be something he’ll always remember, he said.
The public was so grateful, it was a humbling experience, he said. People said “God bless you” for doing this work, and they would bring cookies or some other goodie. That was a pleasant surprise, because the volunteers coming in to do this never expected anything like that.
“We were just trying to make a difference in what was going on,” he said.
The county continues to offer COVID-19 testing and vaccination. The schedule and information can be found on visitmonmouth.com.
Anyone who would like to volunteer for the Monmouth County MRC, they can visit visitmonmouth.com/health or contact the health department at 732-431-7456.
