FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 9, 2017
MAG MEDICAL RESERVE CORPS WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD
ATLANTA – The Medical Association of Georgia’s Medical Reserve Corps (MAG MRC) will receive a $15,000 ‘MRC Challenge Award’ from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in 2017. The funds will be used to recruit young physicians to join the MAG MRC.
“It is a great honor to receive a NACCHO Challenge Award grant,” says MAG MRC Medical Director John S. Harvey, M.D. “And it is worth noting that this was a highly competitive process.”
Dr. Harvey credits Gwinnett Medical Center resident and MAG MRC member Ian McCullough, M.D., for preparing the grant application, which stated that, “This initiative will directly benefit the MRC and the state of Georgia – as it will increase the visibility of the MAG MRC with Georgia residency programs and introduce young physicians to emergency preparedness and disaster response activities so they become familiar with the robust, multi-agency emergency preparedness and response team that exists at the local, regional and state level."
NACCHO MRC Program Analyst Kevin Jacinto said that the MAG MRC application “exhibited an innovative practice and impressed reviewers.”
With the approval of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, MAG formed the nation's first medical society-sponsored statewide volunteer MRC in 2014. The MAG MRC supplements the official medical and public health and emergency services resources that are available in the state. It trains its members to respond to declared emergencies, including natural disasters (e.g., wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, floods) and disease outbreaks.
MAG’s MRC now has more than 60 members, including 40 physicians.
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