Over 100 new members of the Miami-Dade County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) were in attendance at a training designed specifically for University of Miami (UM) students, faculty, and staff. This training day, which took place on February 11, 2012 at the Rosensteil Medical Science Building of the University of Miami Medical campus, was the result of over one year of discussions and planning between the Miami-Dade County Medical Reserve Corps and the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.This one-day training concept was the first of its kind in Miami-Dade County. It was designed to provide all of the participants with everything they need to become a tier one MRC member in a classroom setting in just one day. It consisted of the Miami-Dade MRC Basic Training courses, which are, FEMA IS-100, FEMA IS-700, and the Florida MRC Core Competencies. It also provided them with the opportunity to complete all of the required Miami-Dade MRC paperwork, including the Chapter 110 Volunteer Enrollment Form. Aside from this, all participants were photographed so that their badges may be issued at a later date, once they have undergone and cleared the background screening.
This training day is just the first of several that are in the works for the upcoming year. A Memorandum Of Understanding was executed between the Miami-Dade County Health Department (MDCHD) and UM to form an extension of the Miami-Dade County MRC unit at UM, named, “Miami-Dade County Medical Reserve Corps University of Miami Response Team” or “MRC UM-RT”. All members of the MRC UM-RT are members of the Miami-Dade County MRC unit and are trained and credentialed in accordance with the same policies and procedures and will be invited to participate in all MDCHD emergency response related trainings and exercises as well as University of Miami activities.
