Award To Help Fund Medical Reserve Corps Upgrades

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — The McHenry County Department of Health has received a $5,000 operational readiness award from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. NACCHO represents the nation's nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments, including MCDH.

This award will be used to assist in the building of the operational readiness capabilities of MCDH’S Medical Reserve Corps to meet the emergency preparedness and response needs of McHenry County.

The MRC is a national network of volunteers, organized locally to improve the health and safety of their communities. In the past two years, McHenry County MRCs assisted in the COVID-19 response in a number of roles: staffing the call center and vaccination clinics, contact tracing, distributing personal protective equipment and donating cloth masks, contributing over 10,000 hours, which saved the county over $350,000, according to a news release.

“Throughout the year, MRCs answered the call for service. They come to the aid of their communities in a number of ways, and we hope to have more volunteers join us as we continue our work to protect and prepare McHenry County,” said Chrissy Wasson, MCDH’s Community Resource and Equity Coordinator.

MRC volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds, including medical and nonmedical. Those interested in volunteering at MCDH through the MRC network can get more information online and fill out an application