The MAG Medical Reserves Corps credited with saving lives during pandemic

MAG MRC credited with saving lives during pandemic

By John S. Harvey, M.D., FACS, medical director, MAG Medical Reserve Corps

John S. Harvey, M.D., FACS

Knowing that the state’s health care system could be pushed to its limits by the COVID-19 virus by the middle of April, Georgia Adjutant General (TAG) Maj. Gen. Thomas Carden contacted the Medical Association of Georgia Medical Reserve Corps (MAG MRC) on March 23.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s COVID-19 Task Force had asked Maj. Gen. Carden to “expand the availability of medical manpower in the state, to develop mechanisms to respond with medical care provision, and create management structure to novel virus response.” Having been activated by the Georgia Department of Defense (i.e., Maj. Gen. Carden) and Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey, M.D., on March 24, the MAG MRC leadership team immediately convened and developed an action plan. The MAG MRC increased its ranks from 75 trained and deployable members to more than 250 available medical professionals – with a reserve capacity of 300 more responders – in a matter of several weeks. These volunteers were available to serve in a variety of capacities and settings, from erecting mobile “surge” hospitals to working at COVID-19 test centers to caring for patients via telehealth/telemedicine. With the help of the Medical Association of Georgia, MAG MRC members received expanded professional liability protections under the governor’s emergency declarations and under the authorizations of the Georgia Department of Public Health. The state also authorized providing MAG MRC volunteers with workers compensation protections. Since its formation in 2014, the MAG MRC has trained to respond to declared emergencies for two- to three-day periods. But in the case of the COVID-19 outbreak, we were deployed for more than two months. It is also worth noting that based on the mission’s total manpower-days, and using a conservative professional compensation rate, the MAG MRC has created more than $1 million in value for the state during the pandemic. “As the COVID-19 pandemic started to challenge the state’s hospital capacity while simultaneously infecting medical staff, it became clear to me that we needed to generate some additional options for Governor Kemp and his staff,” Maj. Gen. Carden said. “Fortunately, I was familiar with the Medical Association of Georgia’s Medical Reserve Corps – so I reached out to Dr. John Harvey. The MAG MRC took immediate action, increasing our medical capacity in critical areas.” Maj. Gen. Carden also pointed out that, “In addition to augmenting our staff in medical facilities and COVID testing sites, medical screening at hospitals, nursing home decontamination sites, and foodbank distribution centers, the MAG MRC leadership team provided key inputs and advice as we worked to build our response capacity.” And Maj. Gen. Carden said that he is convinced that the MAG MRC “saved many lives.” In addition to practicing physicians, the MAG MRC’s ‘COVID-19 Response Team’ included retired physicians, PAs, APRNs, nurses, dentists, EMTs, pharmacists, medical students, and fourth-year pharmacy students. The MAG MRC was deployed to health care sites across the state, including the state’s operation and virtual operations centers – as well as sites in Thomasville, Valdosta, Bibb County, Clark County, Fulton County, Mitchell County, Randolph County, and Tift County. Whether you were a MAG MRC member who was deployed to the field or not, MAG and the MAG MRC are immeasurably grateful to every individual who stepped forward during the state’s hour of need. Moreover, the MAG MRC stands ready to respond to future calls for assistance from the State of Georgia, whether that involves a “second wave” or some other kind of emergency. MAG members who are interested in joining the MAG MRC can go to www.magmrc.org/get-involved or contact Fred Jones at fjones@mag.org. The MAG MRC is a group of citizen volunteers who respond to natural disasters and disease outbreaks that threaten to overwhelm a community’s health care system. It complements the official medical and public health and emergency services resources in the state. The MAG MRC is part of a state and national network of MRC. There are nearly 1,000 community-based MRC units and 200,000 MRC volunteers in the U.S.