Volunteers Give 94,360 Hours to Assist During Pandemic
Maricopa County Medical Reserve Corps COVID-19 Efforts Valued at $2.9M
May 2021
Since December 2020, volunteers in Maricopa County’s Medical Reserve Corps have donated 94,360 hours of their time to assist in the effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. These hours represent more than $2.9 million in economic value.
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health’s (MCDPH) Office of Preparedness and Response manages the county’s Medical Reserve Corps. The Medical Reserve Corps is a national network of more than 200,000 volunteers in 800 community-based units that work together to improve the health and safety of the community.
Maricopa County’s Medical Reserve Corps includes 13,673 active volunteers from a variety of backgrounds:
63 Dentists
148 EMS Professionals
81 Mental Health Professionals
10,211 Non-Medical
204 Nurse Practitioners
1,441 Nurses
152 Pharmacists
88 Physician Assistants
492 Physicians
744 Public Health/Medical
16 Respiratory Therapists
33 Veterinarians
Volunteers work multiple shifts and events donating, on average, 15 hours per month. Of the 13,673 active volunteers:
- 1,249 worked 3 or more shifts
- 874 worked 4 or more shifts
- 276 worked 10 or more shifts
- 1,060 worked 20 or more hours
- 480 worked 40 or more hours
- 8 of the most active volunteers have contributed a combined total of 3,764 hours
Medical Reserve Corps volunteers provide both medical and non-medical support for the county’s COVID-19 response, including:
- Administering Vaccine
- Call Center Operations
- Community Outreach
- Contact Tracing
- First Aid
- Logistics
- Medical Observation
- Patient Check-in
- Pharmacy Services (Vaccine Preparation)
- Registration
- Traffic Control
- Translation to 40+ Languages
“Before COVID, we already had a very strong core group of volunteers,” says June Vutrano, Medical Reserve Corps coordinator for MCDPH. “Once COVID happened, many folks reached out and wanted to help. With social media, we added a few thousand people and when the vaccine came in January of this year, we added another 10,000 volunteers.” Several thousand volunteers are currently undergoing screening and training that will further expand the operation.
The efforts of these volunteers have caught national attention, winning an award from the National Association of County and City Health Officials for Call Center Operations. The call center was fully staffed by volunteers when it opened during the onset of COVID-19, operating 8 hours per day, five days per week and tens of thousands of calls later.
For more information on Maricopa County’s COVID-19 response, visit www.Maricopa.gov/COVID19 and to get involved with the Medical Reserve Corps, visit www.GetInvolvedMaricopa.org.
