RI Medical Reserve Corps has spent over 14,000 hours volunteering since start of COVID-19

WEST GREENWICH, R.I. (WLNE) – Healthcare and community volunteers have stepped up in the face of COVID-19, donating their time to assist staff at nursing homes, group homes, testing sites, and conduct telehealth calls.

Brooke Lawrence, executive officer of the Rhode Island Disaster Medical Assistance Team’s Medical Reserve Corps (RIDMAT/MRC), said volunteers have spent more than 14,000 hours helping out on the front lines across the state since the beginning of March.

“From group homes to nursing homes and other specialized care facilities… It’s nurses, doctors, physicians,” Lawrence said, adding that members of the community are lending a hand too.

The non-profit organization, that’s headquartered in West Greenwich, has just under 6,500 volunteers.

They teamed up with the Rhode Island Department of Health for “R.I. Responds”, a system that registers and credentials skilled volunteers and places them where they are most needed.

RIDMAT/MRC’s trucks and tents are a familiar sight at events like the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals and the Quonset Air Show. Lawrence said it’s the practice they get at those events that prepares them for larger responses.

“We are in the community every year and we train. We do those missions to train for the big things like COVID or H1N1. You prepare for the worst and work towards having the best possible positive outcome.”

Lawrence said the organization has collected more than 500,000 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) and delivered them to first responders and hospitals.

But volunteers with RIDMAT/MRC are doing much more than that. They’re also using their skilled professionals to conduct telehealth calls in Pawtucket and Central Falls for vulnerable populations who might not have access to a doctor.

“We have physicians that maybe cannot work that are a little bit older who are still active physicians but aren’t working in their practice. We set up a system so that they can provide consultative services with telehealth in order to get the proper paperwork done so they can get a test completed,” said Lawrence.

Lawrence said they’ve also assisted at testing sites across the state, using their tents to provide shelter.

While volunteers are assisting staff at nursing homes, Lawrence said they’re also helping in other ways. He said he recently got a call from a facility asking for a volunteer to come in and hold tablets so that medical workers are freed up and patients can still video chat with loved ones.

“It’s really kind of selfless acts that they put their life on hold and come down to our logistics center and work, or they’re going into a COVID-positive facility and working and volunteering because they care about people that much. That’s pretty powerful.”

To learn how to volunteer, click here.

© WLNE-TV 2020