SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County Emergency Management leaders are calling for local healthcare workers to volunteer with the Medical Reserve Corps of Eastern Washington to prepare for a potential surge in coronavirus cases.
According to emergency management leaders, this is a preparatory step to strengthen the list of available volunteers to meet any future needs of the community. With the strain COVID-19 has had on our hospital system and its staff, emergency management leaders want to make sure they are prepared to meet any future challenges.
The needs could range from assisting with vaccinations, community education and ensuring medical staff has the resources to maintain a high level of care, emergency management officials said.
These volunteers would not be treating COVID-19 patients but would be supporting medical staff in other ways.
They’re looking for volunteers from many fields including, doctors, registered nurses, veterinarians, mental health professionals, physician assistants, chaplains, paramedics, EMTs, law enforcement and other non-medical volunteers such as administrative support, security and educators.
During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, emergency management leaders said there are about 50 members in the Medical Reserve Corps of Eastern Washington. Anyone who wants to sign up to do so immediately because the process takes one to three weeks.
The Medical Reserve Corps of Eastern Washington was established in 2003. It consists of volunteers to help assist in responding to local, regional or national emergencies or disasters. They san also participate in local health-related programs and community events like Bloomsday.
Health experts around the country have been warning about surges in hospitalizations following holidays since October.
With the potential of a holiday spike in coronavirus cases around the corner, hospitals across Washington state are working to administer as many COVID-19 vaccines as possible. But it's a process that's proven to be slower than expected.
Last week, numbers from the state Department of Health showed just less than 20% of the 356,000 doses of the vaccine in Washington had been administered.
The rush to vaccinate as many frontline healthcare workers as possible is underway as hospital capacity across the state nears 90%.
The state has made changes to help with a faster rollout of the vaccine.
The Department of Health last week expanded who qualifies for the 1A group to receive the vaccine to include other healthcare workers not necessarily on the frontlines. One of the biggest changes is the state is allowing doctors to use their best judgement with what to do with remaining doses of the vaccine only if everyone who qualifies for that 1A group has been vaccinated.
It's a change that hospital leaders said is already making more doses available.
The state is expected to announce who will be in the next phase of vaccinations sometime in early January.
KING 5 Staff contributed to this report