SEATTLE - When Seattle-King County Public Health confronted swine flu in April and May, Dr. Robert Smith stepped in to help track the disease.? ?
He's a volunteer, one of hundreds who are part of the Public Health Reserve Corps.?They're not all licensed medical professionals.
Lorelei Straub stepped up to help family members in search of Tamiflu. She helped with filling out paperwork and other administrative duties.?
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These are just two of the faces of folks who have been willing to step in and help, whether it's an event like an earthquake or a breakout of disease.
Mandi George manages the Public Health Reserve Corps, which she says was created just three years ago out of the planning which followed 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Three hundred people are vetted and registered for the program right now. It's split very close to half and half between professional medical folks including nurses, paramedics and pharmacists and non-medical staff, including translators and finance professionals.
Another 300 are on a list and will shortly go through training. But George wants more. "When we talk about an outbreak of the flu, a third of those people may be sick, and a third of our people may be sick," she said.??
Volunteers often work other jobs, have kids and aren't always available. The Corps can fill in where needed, and they give the health department the ability to expand if it needs to set up mass inoculation clinics or other extraordinary measures.
To volunteer, visit the program's
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