SHU Activates Medical Reserve Corps to Help with COVID Crisis
Members volunteer on the front lines of the vaccine initiative
Sacred Heart University’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) has been called on yet again to help the state in time of crisis. In this instance, its members are ensuring that first responders receive their COVID-19 vaccine.
The MRC was established in 2012 and comprises 125 volunteer members, from the student body, faculty and staff. As one of only 15 such college-based organizations in the country, it operates under the joint leadership of Corinne Lee, clinical assistant professor at the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing and Sofia Pendley, clinical assistant professor in the College of Health Professions.
“From Hurricane Sandy to the COVID crisis, SHU’s MRC has been called upon in times of crisis to provide valuable public health services in the local community. Our MRC unit’s mission is to develop and coordinate a network of volunteers to support the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security locally, specifically to help strengthen public health, improve emergency response and build community resiliency in times of crisis.” said Lee.
The local health department asked the MRC to help vaccinate Connecticut’s health-care first responders. “We will probably initially be vaccinating first responder groups, but that will provide us with valuable learning and knowledge on how to scale it up to respond to the need for general population vaccinations,” Pendley said.”
Meanwhile, SHU is exploring the possibility of establishing a mass vaccination clinic on campus. “Once we get more vaccines and the next tier of people become eligible to receive it, we will continue to ramp up our volunteer base and then hopefully have it at SHU. We would model it after the COVID testing we did after the semester started,” said Lee.
Volunteers also have been deployed to underserved urban communities like Bridgeport to raise awareness of the vaccine’s safety and the science behind them. “This is what I’m training for and what I’m meant to do,” said MRC student volunteer Karina Arrelucia. “It’s more of a duty and responsibility. The opportunity came along, and I couldn’t resist it.”
Students interested in joining the Medical Reserve Corps can do so by contacting Lee or Pendley.
Editor’s note: The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a national network of volunteers, organized locally to improve the health and safety of their communities. These volunteers include medical and public health professionals, as well as other community members without health-care backgrounds. The MRC units engage these volunteers to strengthen public health, improve emergency response capabilities, and build community resiliency.