The Health & Human Services Department launched a Web site that provides a single point of entry for health professionals across the nation to sign up to volunteer in advance of an emergency or disaster in their state.
The Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) is a national network of state-based programs that verifies the identity, licenses and credentials of health professionals before an emergency happens.
The Web site would makes it easier and faster to register potential volunteers by connecting them with each state's ESAR-VHP program. Health professionals include doctors, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, medical technologists, clinical social workers, medical records technicians and mental health counselors.
Registering with ESAR-VHP does not obligate health professionals to serve. Once registered, participants can opt in or out when contacted for volunteer service, according to Dr. Nicole Lurie, HHS's assistant secretary for preparedness and response in a Sept 7 announcement.
The advance registration has about 150,000 volunteers listed with 49 state programs to date, but the number of volunteers who could be needed in a disaster is unknown, she said.
