Betty Duggan
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York
December 16, 2014
When the first case of Ebola emerged in New York City on October 23, the New York City Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) within the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) was already prepared to respond. The New York City MRC had begun training members for Ebola in early October and quickly put them to work by engaging in community outreach and education, “Ebola 101” trainings, and more.
The New York City MRC had trained volunteers to conduct community education and outreach to various populations throughout the city. With nearly 7,700 members, the MRC unit is very diverse, and “because of this our members were trusted by communities because they looked like them,” said Betty Duggan, New York City MRC Director. MRC volunteers played a crucial role in helping to correct the misinformation spread about Ebola and also reach the populations at highest risk to contract the virus. DOHMH’s materials are in many languages, so volunteers distributed materials in English and other languages that would be useful to different communities. Most of the messaging addressed the extreme prejudice people from Africa experienced; how Ebola is spread; and how unlikely it would be for someone living in New York City to catch it.
Given New York City’s large West African populations, a key part of the New York City MRC’s preparedness for and response to Ebola included outreach to these populations to educate them about their risk of contracting Ebola. Volunteers handed out “Am I at Risk?” palm cards during the Africa Day Parade in Harlem on October 19. MRC volunteers also gave presentations to local religious leaders and at faith-based community events, including the District African Leadership Council event and the “African Communities Together” event in Manhattan. A volunteer who is a doctor took part in a panel at the “Africa Ebola Crisis Summit” in Staten Island, which has a sizable West African/Liberian population.
In the wake of Ebola’s arrival in New York City, MRC volunteers conducted outreach to taxi and limousine drivers at JFK and LaGuardia airports who had become increasingly scared of transporting passengers—often refusing to take cash or have contact with passengers. MRC volunteers reached over 5,000 New York taxi and limousine drivers in three days at these two airports and expanded the program to other area airports.
More than 500 New York City MRC volunteers were also trained in presenting Ebola 101 courses. These courses took the form of “train-the-trainer” and were designed to increase the dissemination of evidence-based information on Ebola and information uptake. MRC volunteers have presented 23 Ebola 101 courses thus far at numerous hospitals and community events. New York City MRC also provided Ebola 101 trainings for the New York City Community Emergency Response Team.
Although the New York City MRC volunteers were invaluable in the city’s response to Ebola, several challenges emerged. Response staff were reluctant to use volunteers for some activities such as active monitoring given the continuity issues that arose with volunteers not able to consistently staff shifts, although 50 MRC volunteers were recruited for active monitoring and 18 of these volunteers were trained in it. Response leads were looking for consistent coverage for active monitoring and thus looked to DOHMH staff to fill these roles where multiple volunteers could have provided the same coverage. This reluctance to use volunteers in the response reflects a larger sentiment about using volunteers to achieve response and other staffing goals. However, the strong relationship between the New York City MRC and DOHMH helped to encourage the use of MRC volunteers in a number of Ebola response activities, and the high quality work ethic and skills volunteers offered demonstrated their value.
While there are currently no known cases of Ebola in New York as of December 8, the New York City MRC is working with DOHMH to determine how to use the MRC again if future cases emerge. Lessons learned from this initial case of Ebola include the difficulties related to scheduling and logistics for such a large volunteer corps. New York City will conduct a hot wash soon to identify additional areas for improvement if another case of Ebola emerges in the area.
When the first case of Ebola emerged in New York City on October 23, the New York City Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) within the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) was already prepared to respond. The New York City MRC had begun training members for Ebola in early October and quickly put them to work by engaging in community outreach and education, “Ebola 101” trainings, and more.
