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King County Washington home

Joining the PHRC

Please read below before submitting your application.

Membership

Open to medical and non-medical volunteers age 18 and older who are looking to give back to their community and help support the PHRC’s goals. All professional backgrounds are accepted.

  • Medical volunteers can be defined as an individual with active medical or clinical credentials. A few examples include: RN, ARNP, MD, MA, EMT, Dentists, Phlebotomists, Clinical Social Workers, etc.
  • Non-Medical volunteers are defined as any individual volunteering with the PHRC without medical credentials. Individuals with expired medical credentials will be counted as Non-Medical.

If you are from one of the priority communities/organizations listed below, consider joining the PHRC!

Experience

  • Foot care
  • Emergency/disaster preparedness
  • Seattle Emergency Hub

If you identify yourself with one of the following communities:

  • Black
  • Indigenous
  • Latinx
  • Asian American/Pacific Islander
  • And other communities of color
  • People with disabilities
  • People from socioeconomic backgrounds

Fluent in languages commonly spoken in King County

  • Spanish
  • Chinese
  • Vietnamese
  • Hindi
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Ahmaric
  • Somali
  • Tagalog or other Filipino languages
  • Ukrainian or other Slavic languages
  • Persian including Farsi and Dari

Skills, credentials, and response roles

  • Medical providers licensed to vaccinate and/or prescribe (Dentists, EMT, MA, MD, ARNP, PA, PA-C, Pharmacists, RN)
    • Although other categories of providers are allowed to vaccinate under Washington State law, Public Health policies preclude any but the above licensed professionals from administering vaccinations.
  • Licensed behavioral health providers
  • Health educators
  • Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics
  • Sanitarians and environmental health specialists
  • Dentists
  • Respiratory therapists
  • Phlebotomists
  • Veterinarians
  • Occupational health, industrial hygiene, and infection prevention, including N95 fit testers
  • Podiatrists
  • Language interpreters
  • Those with proficiency in languages other than English
  • Insurance/Health Benefit Navigators
  • HAM radio operators affiliated with the Western Washington Medical Services Team
    • Please be sure to leave a comment if you are looking to be or already are affiliated with the Western Washington Medical Services Team
  • Members of King County MRCs (Vashon, Redmond, Issaquah, Carnation/Duvall) cross-registered with PHRC
  • Member of a community health board
  • Those with other medical, healthcare, or public health backgrounds
  • Expertise in public information and media
  • Expertise in forensics
  • And much more!

Participation requirements

If you are interested in becoming a Public Health Reserve Corps member, please read the volunteer requirements below.

  • Participate in a minimum of one PHRC activity a year
  • Complete the de-escalation training and any other required training courses provided by the PHRC leadership team
  • Respond to 75% of quarterly emergency communication drills within 48 hours
  • All applicants must be at least 18 years old

Before submitting your application

  1. Create an account in Washington state's online emergency worker volunteer database - WAserv
    • WAserv is our emergency alerting system and our primary form of communication. All mass announcements will be sent via WAserv and will be delivered to your preferred email address. All volunteers are required to have an account and expected to regularly check for announcements.
  2. Complete FEMA Incident Command System (ICS) courses 100 and 700
    • Once both courses are completed, please download your certificates and email to the PHRC Team at phrc@kingcounty.gov
    • When registering for your FEMA student ID, you are required to share when and where you were born. Given that this might make some individuals uncomfortable, we created an alternative for the required ICS 100 & 700 courses. Please review this how-to document if this applies to you: ICS Alternative How-To
      • If you took the alternative, the PHRC Team will be notified of your completion.

        Please know that if you wish to receive a certificate or take other courses you will need to create a FEMA student ID. This alternative is only for the courses we require for your onboarding process. If you have any questions, please contact the PHRC team, PHRC@kingcounty.gov
  3. Complete the virtual “New Volunteer” Orientation
    • The new volunteer orientation covers a range of topics from an overview of the program, the policies and procedures that govern volunteer work, your role as a volunteer, and our role as program leadership in supporting personal preparedness and emergency response preparedness.
    • Before viewing the orientation video below, first take the Pre-Orientation quiz.
    • After taking the Pre-Orientation Quiz, view the 50-minute presentation on Zoom.  The passcode to access the video is: PHRC2022!
    • After viewing the orientation video, take the Post-Orientation quiz.
    • Submit clinical credentials
    • If applying to the PHRC as a clinical/medical volunteer, please fill out this form with your credential licensure.  We are required to track active credentials to verify a volunteer can serve in a clinical role.

Once all the steps above have been completed, please click the link below to review and sign your application. A PHRC coordinator be notified and you will receive an email with the final steps. Thank you!

Apply to be a PHRC volunteer

FAQs for new volunteers

Once your application has been submitted, PHRC coordinators will receive a notification via email, which will then be reviewed for approval. Upon approval, you will receive an email from the coordinators notifying you that a background check has been initiated.

King County Human Resources will initiate a background check on all individuals who are requesting to join the PHRC. No credit checks will be done.

Response after submission can take up to 2 weeks as we are onboarding incoming members 1 – 2 times a month.

Yes. However, it is likely that you already have the items that are required. Please review the steps above and complete what is missing and resubmit items that have already been completed in the past. For other questions, please contact the PHRC coordinators: PHRC@kingcounty.gov

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