Emergency healthcare organized

A volunteer group of healthcare professionals is being formed to help treat the sick or injured if a bird flu outbreak or other medical emergency hits Boston's western suburbs.

With their six-month grant running out in September, a staff of six is racing to recruit and train a few thousand volunteers for the area's Medical Reserve Corps unit, according to Liisa Jackson, a Hopkinton resident and registered nurse who is one of the unit's coordinators.

The unit would be ready to provide care in case of a disease outbreak, a terrorist attack, or other natural or manmade disaster. It will include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, toxicologists, mental health professionals, and paramedics who live in the area as well as support staff, such as people with experience in administration, interpreting, and radio communications.

There are 424 Medical Reserve Corps units across the country, with 25 units in Massachusetts. Some units have been up and running for several years, while others are just getting organized.

The local ''Region 4A" unit covers 34 towns, 21 in the Globe West coverage area: Lincoln, Waltham, Stow, Maynard, Sudbury, Wayland, Weston, Natick, Framingham, Southborough, Marlborough, Hudson, Hopkinton, Ashland, Holliston, Sherborn, Dover, Medfield, Millis, Norfolk, and Wrentham.

Jackson said the goal is to recruit about 65 volunteers for each 10,000 residents. So far, the unit hasn't signed up many people, but Jackson is hoping that will change once the word gets out.

Stow is ahead of other towns, with about 70 volunteers signed up, though they haven't undergone necessary background checks and training, Jackson said.

In the program's beginning, communities were given three-year grants from the Office of the US Surgeon General, but that money is no longer in the budget, said Grace Middleton, spokeswoman for the Surgeon General's Medical Reserve Corps Program Office, based in Maryland.

Since then, new units have received a mix of federal, state, and private funding, she said. ''That's not to say we wouldn't like to give them money, but it's not something right now we're able to do," said Middleton.

Bruce Auerbach is chairman of the Massachusetts Medical Society's Committee on Physician Preparedness and chief for emergency and ambulatory services at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro. He saw an MRC unit in action while helping out with Katrina evacuees at Otis Air Force Base. ''That was a clear demonstration of the unbelievable value of MRCs, but we need to do something to ensure ongoing funding of them at the federal or state level," he said.

Jackson said the lack of funding is ''very frustrating." Her unit hopes to recruit volunteers this summer and to have training completed and badges distributed before its funding dries up, she said.

''We'll apply for more funding, but you don't know," said Jackson.

Some training is online and Jackson hopes to organize some drills -- a vaccine drill in the case of a flu outbreak, for example.

''What happened with 9/11 and Katrina, there were so many people that wanted to help, but they were turned away because there was no way to credential them," said Jackson.

Jackson said that once the units are set up around the country, members of units in one area could go to the aid of others.

''Something like this would not only help locally but it would help nationally," she said. ''Once all the MRCs are badged and ready to go, they can go help in the event of a disaster. If we got a hurricane here in Boston, we could draw from other resources in the country."

For more on the program statewide or nationwide, go to www.medicalreservecorps.gov.

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or at lkocian@globe.com.