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Lake County Public Health to host April workshop on disaster medical skills
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County Public Health will be hosting an upcoming workshop to help local health care volunteers sharpen disaster response skills.
The workshop will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road in Lakeport.
Registration is required by April 11; visit http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Emergency_Preparedness.htm for the workshop registration form.
County officials hope that in offering the workshop there will be increased interest among local health care workers and support staff to join Lake County’s Medical Reserve Corps.
The Medical Reserve Corps is organized under Lake County Public Health and consists of volunteers whose credentials are verified and who agree to participate in periodic training activities.
The Lake County Medical Reserve Corps volunteers represent a range of disciplines including
physicians, nurses, veterinarians, first responders, EMT/paramedics and ham radio operators. Pharmacists, dentists, nursing and medical assistants and non-licensed support staff also are welcome to join.
The Lake County Medical Reserve Corps is nationally accredited and has been in existence since 2007.
The group enjoys a high level of camaraderie as the result of supporting a wide range of public health activities, including mass vaccination clinics, training on responding to large foodborne illness outbreaks, and a community-wide survey regarding household emergency preparedness.
In addition, some of the members and staff have participated in larger training events that bring Medical Reserve Corps volunteers together on a regional basis.
A full-scale training exercise hosted by Ventura County Medical Reserve Corps held May 3 to 5, 2013, was attended by more than 130 Medical Reserve Corps volunteers from various local, regional and state agencies.
The exercise was held at a remote 200 acre ranch located outside of Ojai. This remote location had no cell phone reception or Internet which demonstrated how Medical Reserve Corps volunteers would respond to medical deployment without access to modern technology in the field.
This type of rural setting is similar to Lake County and was excellent training ground for local Medical Reserve Corps volunteers that helped increase the education and skills of our local volunteers to support a disaster or emergency response in Lake County.
For more information on the Disaster Medical Skills Workshop, visit http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Emergency_Preparedness.htm .