Transcript
Medical Reserve Corp Orientation: Part 2
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MRC Orientation
Part 2 of 2
Narrator: Welcome to part 2 of the required orientation course for Multnomah County MRC volunteers. If you haven’t yet listened to part 1, please go back and do that first.
Let’s get back to where we left off.
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Medical Liability
Worker’s Compensation
Narrator: As a healthcare professional you know that liability, malpractice and worker’s compensation are major issues and can be very complicated. These can be complicated for the MRC program as well.
I am going to go through this fairly quickly, so if something is unclear, please ask, or read through our policies on our MRC website.
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Narrator: First let’s talk about medical liability or medical malpractice. As an MRC volunteer, you are covered as long as you work within the scope of your license under the direction of the Health Department.
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Oregon Tort Claims Act
ORS 30.260-300
Narrator and text on screen: If the State of Oregon declares an emergency under the Oregon Tort Claims Act, the State of Oregon defends the volunteer and covers financial liability.
The same is true when it’s a county or city declared emergency, or any non-emergency event or exercise. Multnomah County protects the volunteers’ liability in those events.
So you’re always covered for medical liability whether it’s a declared emergency or not, as long as you work within the scope of your license and under the authority of the Health Department.
Narrator: But it’s a little different for injury or Worker’s Compensation coverage.
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Worker’s Compensation Coverage
Narrator and text on screen: If the state of Oregon declares an emergency or sanctions an event or exercise, the Oregon Office of Emergency Management covers the Worker’s Compensation insurance for volunteer injuries as long as they are working under the direction of a public body, and working within the scope of their license.
But, if the event is not a state-declared emergency, then no coverage for worker’s compensation is available for activities led or supported by Multnomah County.
Narrator: If an external organization is requesting the MRC, they may or may not provide that insurance.
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We will explain your coverage BEFORE you decide to volunteer
Narrator: This may be a little confusing, but what you need to know right now is that in the event of any activation—whether emergency or non-emergency—we will tell you what you are and are not covered for before you decide to volunteer.
And if you have any questions, please ask.
I’ve mentioned SERV-OR a couple of times now. As you know, SERV-OR is the website where you filled out your application to join the MRC.
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Narrator: It stands for State Emergency Registry of Volunteers in Oregon. It is a web-accessible database of all MRC volunteers in Oregon.
We use SERV-OR to track your training, exercises, activations, profile information, etcetera. You must keep your contact and license information current in SERV-OR. The Information you provide is used to notify you during activations.
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Keep your contact and license up to date in SERV-OR
Narrator: If you don’t know your login or password, contact the MRC coordinator to reset it for you.
We use SERV-OR to activate the MRC.
Narrator and text on screen: Depending on the information you provide in your profile, you may receive a text message, a phone call and an email.
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Sign up for text messages in SERV-OR
Narrator: The text messages are very brief. They are quick notifications to tell you that something is happening and what you should do to get more information.
Make sure you are signed up to receive texts alerts—also called SMS alerts—in your SERV-OR profile.
The phone calls you’ll receive from SERV-OR are also very brief. It will be a voice recording that informs you of the exercise or activation and how to get more information.
You can provide your home phone and cell phone in SERV-OR.
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Also receive notifications by phone and email
Narrator: Finally, the emails we send from SERV-OR contain all the necessary details with clear instructions on what you need to do.
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Keeping you informed
Narrator and text on screen: We also use SERV-OR to run notification drills.
Four times a year you will get an alert from SERV-OR. This is a way for us to keep in contact with our MRC volunteers and gives us practice with the system. Please make sure you respond to the drill within 24 hours.
Another way that we reach out to you is through a quarterly newsletter.
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Signing up for Missions in SERV-OR
Narrator and text on screen: When we do have an event, you’ll sign up for it in SERV-OR. You’ll receive the activation notice, and then you’ll have an opportunity to sign up for a mission assignment and shift, all within the SERV-OR website platform.
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Getting Ready to Deploy
Narrator and text on screen: Once you do that we will verify your credentials and either approve or deny you for the assignment, and send you a list of things you’ll need to bring and do before you volunteer.
Once you’ve received approval notification and filled out any necessary paperwork, you’ll be ready to report to the designated location and get to work.
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Get involved so you can get prepared!
Narrator: Thankfully, big emergencies are infrequent in Multnomah County. But because of that it can seem difficult to find opportunities to prepare to serve as an MRC volunteer.
We encourage you to get involved in as many exercise and training opportunities as you can when they are offered.
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Sign up for training and exercise opportunities!
Narrator: Throughout the year we will send you training and exercise opportunities by email. These will help you prepare for emergency response roles.
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Sign up for the State Managed Volunteer Pool (SMVP)
Narrator: You should also consider signing up for the State Managed Volunteer Pool, or SMVP. This is the state of Oregon’s MRC program.
By being open to statewide and sometimes even nationwide activations, you will have many more opportunities to participate in exercises, training and real-life emergency events.
Narrator and text on screen: Right now, about 46% of Multnomah County’s MRC volunteers are also SMVP volunteers.
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Check your SERV-OR profile to sign up
Narrator: If you aren’t in that 46% or aren’t sure, there is a section on your SERV-OR profile where you can indicate that you can be available for statewide deployments.
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Prepare your family
Narrator: In order for you to volunteer when the time comes, you should also think about preparing yourself, your family, your house, your loved ones and even your pets for emergencies.
You are a vital part of our support to the citizens we serve in Multnomah County.
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www.publicalerts.org
Narrator: Stay informed about incidents in our community by signing up for public alerts at publicalerts.org.
You can receive alerts from the most minor traffic incidents all the way up to the biggest most severe emergencies in our area.
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Make a plan:
www.ready.gov
Narrator: Make an emergency plan for your family. Start collecting emergency supplies for your house, your car and your office. Ready.gov is a great place to get started.
You’ll often hear recommendations that you should plan for 3 days of emergency supplies for situations like snow storms and power outages. But in our part of the country, with our risk for catastrophic earthquakes, you really need to plan for 2 weeks without any basic services.
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2 weeks of supplies
Narrator: We encourage you to start planning now, as you are able.
We have reached the end of our orientation.
Congratulations! Thank you for listening in, and thank you for volunteering.
Narrator and text on screen: Please return to our MRC website to click the survey link to receive credit for this course.
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Questions? Contact MRC unit coordinator at: mrc@multco.us