The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a network in the U.S. of community-based units initiated and established by local organizations to meet the public health needs of their communities. It is sponsored by the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States. The MRC consists of medical and non-medical volunteers who contribute to local health initiatives, such as activities meeting the Surgeon General’s [1] priorities for public health, and supplement existing response capabilities in time of emergency. The MRC provides the structure necessary to pre-identify, credential, train, and activate medical and public health volunteers. In the fall of 2007 the name was modified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services office to read "Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps".
As of June 2008, there were more than 761 local MRC units and one hundred and fifty thousand volunteers. MRC units are present in 49 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
