MRC Coordinator's Update: May 2023

Published on 2023-05-01 by daigl073

I'd like to take a minute to congratulate those of you who are graduating!  Whether it's an undergraduate or graduate degree, it is cause for celebration.  Your hard work and dedication is paying off.  My sincerest wishes for your growth and success as you move to the next step in your journey.  

If you are leaving the University, I'll need to remove you from our membership.  Can you please let me know by emailing [email protected]?  If you are continuing on as a graduate student or staff, you still remain a member of our MRC (Yay!).

I have a lot of things planned for this summer, starting with some fun training opportunities in Veterinary Medicine and Disaster Behavioral Health.  Everyone is invited, you don't need to be affiliated with or knowledgeable in either topic.  BONUS: there will be animals involved!  More info in the Training Announcements below.

News

Join a Response Team!
Did you know that our MRC has Response Teams?  We have openings on many of our current teams!  Joining a response team will allow you to work in smaller groups, build specific skills, and allow you more targeted involvement opportunities.  Each team has at least one Team Lead who has experience and expertise in the topic area.  Time commitment is what you make of it, but I aim to offer at least one special opportunity (training, exercise, plan/procedure development/review, external conferences/trainings) for each team per year. When it comes time to deploy, these response teams play a critical role in making sure members feel comfortable in their roles and expectations, and can be leaders for other members.  

Current teams are:

I'd love you to consider joining a response team.  To learn more and express interest, please complete this form. 
As always, THANK YOU and email me with any questions or ideas [email protected]

Summer Training Opportunities for ALL Members
I have been working diligently with the Team Leads from the VetMed Response Team and the Behavioral Health Response Team to offer U of M MRC members some exciting training!  Though the topics may sound specific, there is good information and skills for ALL members.  Plus, I think they are going to be really fun.  And, there will be food!

Radiation Emergency Response (REP) featuring the MN Department of Human Services, the State of MN Veterinary Medicine MRC, and the U of MN MRC VetMed Response Team (more info)
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
4:30-7:30 pm
CEUs available for veterinarians.
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN HERE

Disaster Behavioral Health and MRC: an Introduction
June 29 or Aug 10 (same session offered twice)
8-10 am
More information in the June newsletter, but REGISTRATION IS OPEN HERE

The Minnesota Department of Health's Regional Behavioral Health Consultants (RBHC) have multiple training webinars available in May, and June:
Psychological First Aid (June 12)
Vanquishing Energy Vampires (May 25)
Communication In and Out of Disasters (June 13)

Although these are not sponsored by the University of MN MRC, they are relevant to our work, and I hope some of you find them helpful and interesting.  Registration information is in the links for the courses, above.  If you choose to attend any of them, I'd love to hear how you find the information, and if you have ideas for other topics.  The MDH RBHCs are a resource for us, and they are available to design or customize training content to suit our needs.

National Volunteer Month WINNERS!
The winners of the three $50 Amazon gift cards are:

Shivansh Pandey (Future Physicians student)
Dylan He (Dental School)
Ri Shankar (Medical School)

Congratulations and thank you!  You will receive your gift cards via email in the next week.

Momo ZumBahlen

Member Spotlight

Momo ZumBahlen
Momo is a Biology major finishing up her first year. She joined MRC after a class taught by Jill DeBoer sparked an interest in public health and is now a student worker at HERO as well. Welcome, Momo!