|
Volunteer Bikers To Train For Medical Reserve Corps. Kane County Health Department -- Jan 9, 2008 KANE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE VOLUNTEER BIKERS TO TRAIN FOR MEDICAL RESERVE CORPS September 29, 2006 Contact: Patrick DeMoon, Medical Reserve Corps: (630) 232-5811 Dean Akey, Biker4Biker: (630) 232-9811 Tom Schlueter, Kane County Health Department: (630) 444-3098 Following a tornado, with debris clogging the roadways, how does a doctor or nurse or a shipment of medicine get to the people who need them? Motorcycles can go where fourwheeled vehicles cannot, and local bikers are volunteering their services to the Kane County Medical Reserve Corps in the event of an emergency. The volunteers will undergo training from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Oct. 5 and 12 at Trinity Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church, 16 S. 7 .Patrick DeMoon, Kane County Medical Reserve Corps Coordinator, contacted Dean Akey, a local St. Charles business owner and founder of the Rescue Riders program and Biker4Biker, a not-for-profit group that works to coordinate fund-raising efforts for area motorcyclists and their families in need of help, with the idea of training motorcycle riders to make use of their increased mobility in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. “What better group than bikers who are already helping people?” DeMoon said. The training sessions will involve first aid and CPR training geared to the 2005 American >Heart Association’s guidelines and will be taught by Belinda and John Guglielmo, both of whom are firefighter/paramedics. With this training, the volunteer bikers will be able to respond to the scene of an emergency and provide transportation in the critical hours immediately following the disaster. We will have the enhanced mobility to go where a four-wheeled vehicle can’t,” Akey said. “In essence we’re a taxi service, and we will go >wherever and whenever we are needed.” (More) The Health Department established one of the first Medical Reserve Corps in the country. The MRC is a group of several hundred dedicated volunteers. They are local physicians, dentists, veterinarians, nurses, pharmacists, and other community residents. During a disaster the biker volunteers would be in a position to enhance the mobility of the other MRC volunteers. If you would like to find out more about volunteering for the Rescue Riders program please visit the Biker4Biker Web site at More information about the MRC can be found at the Health Department’s Web site |