Tis The Season

In the spirit of the holiday season, I would like to take the time to say thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers here at the Thurston County Medical Reserve Corps, it has been a wonderful year, and we sure have accomplished a lot.  None of it could have happened without you, so again, from all of us at the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department, THANK YOU!

Nothing could have reminded me how wonderful our volunteers are, more so than this past Thursday.  For various reasons, the PHSS staff could not be there to host and run our annual meeting, but because of our wonderful volunteers, that did not slow us down one beat!  We had some volunteers who stepped up to the plate, and took on the responsibilities for the meeting.  From what I hear, it could not have gone any better.  But that is what emergency preparedness is all about, to be there when others can’t, and to deliver under pressure.  I can say we have some exceptional people in our organizations and I am proud to be a part of it.

Our General Meeting was the last “planned” MRC event for the year.  So I would like to take a short look back on the 2012 year.  We have accomplished a significant amount this year, and I thought I would share with all of you some encouraging statistics.  The Thurston County MRC participated in 30 events over the course of the year, which consisted of training, outreach, or large community events such as all those vaccine clinics over the summer.  With those 30 events, we have 1,167 total volunteer hours (that does not even include all the planning for these events)!  That is almost a 400 hour increase over last year!  That is 1,167 hours of community events and public health preparedness that we never would have been able to do without each and every single one of you, our volunteers!

So take some time in this holiday season to give yourself a pat on the back, as we look back on the 2012 year, and as we prepared for what 2013 has in store for us.  I hope 2013 will be a great as you all made our 2012 out to be!