Maricopa County volunteers provided nearly $3M in value for virus response
May 11, 2021, 4:25 AM
PHOENIX — The dedication of volunteers in Maricopa County’s Medical Reserve Corps over the past six months have provided millions of dollars in economic value working as part of an effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials announced Monday.
Medical Reserve Corps volunteers provide both medical and non-medical support for the county’s COVID-19 response including administering the vaccine, call center operations, patient check-in, pharmacy services and logistics.
Volunteers have donated 94,360 hours of their time since December 2020, representing more than $2.9 million in economic value, according to a press release.
“Before COVID, we already had a very strong core group of volunteers,” June Vutrano, Medical Reserve Corps coordinator for MCDPH, said in the release.
“With social media, we added a few thousand people and when the vaccine came in January of this year, we added another 10,000 volunteers.”
Maricopa County’s Medical Reserve Corps is made up of 13,673 active volunteers from various backgrounds, 10,211 of which are non-medical.
Volunteers work multiple shifts and events donating, on average, 15 hours per month.
Of the 13,673 volunteers, 1,060 people worked 20 or more hours, while eight of the most active volunteers contributed a combined total of 3,764 hours.
The Medical Reserve Corps, a national network of more than 200,000 volunteers in 800 community-based units, plans to expand its operations with several thousand more volunteers currently undergoing screening and training, according to the release.
