Recruiting Emergency CAM Volunteers
Local
Health Boards in Massachusetts are currently faced with the daunting task of
recruiting and training significant numbers of emergency healthcare volunteers
as a precaution against the real possibility of pandemic influenza or
bioterrorism. In the event of such emergencies, trained volunteers would work
with local health authorities to support medical surge capacity through mass
prophylaxis, staffing emergency dispensing sites, public education, and care for
the sick.
The sheer number of volunteers this could require is staggering. For example,
Plymouth, MA is anticipating a need for 1,000 healthcare volunteers. How can
communities begin to find this many healthcare volunteers?
CAM Practitioners: an Untapped Volunteer Resource
One generally untapped volunteer pool has been identified by some communities,
but overlooked by most. It is a community’s local complementary/alternative
medicine (CAM) practitioners, such as massage therapists, chiropractors, and
acupuncturists:
· CAM use in Massachusetts if common and widespread, and CAM practitioners
working in the Commonwealth number in the thousands;
· Many of these practitioners advanced degrees and have had basic medical or
first aid training;
· Many are concerned with the threat of a flu pandemic striking their community,
want to know how to protect themselves and their clients, and want to be of
service.
A common way in which CAM practitioners have been integrated into local disaster
relief efforts has been through the
Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), which has welcomed massage therapists and other
CAM practitioners into their ranks of volunteer healthcare professionals in
Massachusetts and across the country, with great results.
For example, the
Amherst Medical Reserve Corps includes nurses, physicians—and massage
therapists. Its members are committed to training to support medical or public
health emergency related operations, including Emergency Dispensing Site
Operations, clinics, household emergency preparedness education, and community
outreach.
Other MRCs across the country have gone even further in involving CAM
practitioners. For example, the
South West Florida MRC has established a Massage Therapy Strike Team
composed of 10 licensed massage therapists, and has been active in hurricane
relief efforts. The Team is trained to provide massage therapy relief to first
responders, shelter workers, and disaster survivors*.
Local Health Boards should consider these issues when recruiting CAM
practitioners as healthcare volunteers:
Certain CAM professions have a track record of responding to disasters.
For example, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, massage therapists and
acupuncturists were part of Medical Reserve Corps units and other disaster
response teams that headed for the Gulf to provide relief. CAM practitioners who
provide disaster relief typically have done so in the form of helping victims
suffering from pain conditions or PTSD, and providing care to emergency workers
suffering from exhaustion and burn-out.
Some CAM practitioners have had medical training, some have not.
Typically, chiropractors and acupuncturists have taken at least pre-med courses
to be graduates from their programs. Massage therapists commonly have a basic
understanding of anatomy and physiology and have completed basic first aid/CPR
training as a certification requirement. Other CAM professionals such as
herbalists or energy healers work in unlicensed professions which do not
typically involve any conventional medical training, although a significant
number are former nurses.
If local health services are overwhelmed in a flu pandemic, citizens will
inevitably turn to CAM practitioners seeking relief, so building bridges to
these professions should be part of your town’s pandemic planning. During
the first wave of a severe flu pandemic, when a vaccine and effective antiviral
drugs are likely to be nonexistent or tightly rationed, it is not difficult to
imagine that those people unable to receive adequate conventional medical care
will seek alternatives. Whether CAM practitioners are integrated into your
community’s surveillance and first-case notification system, whether they are
practicing proper precautions against catching and spreading the flu virus, and
whether they are providing useful and sensible (or at least unharmful) health
information to their clients will depend largely on whether you have
acknowledged the existence of these local practitioners, both licensed and
unlicensed, in your pandemic planning. Offering certain CAM practitioners
opportunities to volunteer and train in pandemic preparedness can provide a
useful conduit for dissemination of vital healthcare information to their fellow
CAM practitioners, and for identifying those practitioners who, in a pandemic,
are practicing unethically (e.g. selling “cure-alls”) or in a manner that
endangers the public’s health.
Here are some useful tips for how to approach CAM practitioners in your
community:
Approach them through their professional networks, schools, and other hubs.
For example, members of South West Florida MRC’s Massage Therapy Strike Team
described above were recruited when the MRC’s Executive Director spoke to the
local chapter of the state’s massage therapy organization, and to students and
faculty of a local massage school. Most Massachusetts communities have holistic
healthcare centers that can provide appropriate venues for this kind of
recruitment.
Place them in positions suited to their skills that meet your real needs.
Rather than lament an inevitable shortage of doctors and nurses in a flu
pandemic, examine instead the variety of skills you will need to have on hand
and consider whether certain CAM practitioners may either already have those
skills or be trainable. Many acupuncturists, for example, have completed their
studies at the Masters Degree level, and are likely able to learn various
medical procedures outside their regular scope of practice, such as vaccination.
But also respect that CAM practitioners have much experience caring for people
suffering from pain or stress, which in a disaster will of course be endemic,
and they will likely want to serve in this capacity as well.
Offer them training, offer them respect. A great recruitment incentive
for CAM practitioners is to offer them free training as a benefit of joining
your volunteer pool. For example, many CAM practitioners require regular CPR
recertification to stay in good professional standing. Offering them First Aid
and Psychological First Aid classes are will also appeal. But the greatest
incentive of all is to recruit them as you would a local doctor or nurse, by
acknowledging that most are ethical and earnest professionals who are seen in
their community as playing a valuable healthcare role—even if the efficacy of
their healing art has not been completely accepted by the scientific community.
Acknowledge the concerns some may have about licensing. While some CAM
professions have statewide licensing (e.g. chiropractic, acupuncture, and
massage**), and other professions have municipal licensing (e.g. massage and
certain forms of bodywork such as shiatsu), many holistic professions such as
herbal medicine, homeopathy, and energy healing have no licensing system in
place (owing perhaps to the rarity of harmful outcomes from some of these
approaches). These latter unlicensed caregivers may enjoy some assurances from
you that their involvement as healthcare volunteers will not jeopardize their
livelihoods. If you cannot provide such assurances, it would be better to focus
on the licensed CAM professions as a volunteer pool. Opening this new avenue of
relationship with your local CAM practitioners, however, might have an added
benefit of increasing compliance with existing licensing requirements on the
books.
The overwhelming need for volunteer healthcare support in the event of pandemic
influenza or bio-terrorism demands new thinking from health boards on where to
look for trainable volunteers. The CAM practitioners working in your midst are
clearly a useful resource, and working with them can further enrich your
planning process and provide unique and useful pathways for the dissemination of
important public health information.
*For more information on the South West Florida MRC’s Massage Therapy Strike
Team, contact Executive Director Wendy Wilderman at (239) 338-3310 or at
wendy_wilderman@doh.state.fl.us.
** In June of 2006, the Commonwealth established statewide licensing regulations
for massage therapists, to come into effect on or before May 1, 2008. Details
can be found at
www.mass.gov/legis/laws/seslaw06/sl060135.htm
Published originally in the 2007 edition of the Massachusetts Association of
Health Boards' Journal of Local Public Health.
Whole Health Solutions can help
Boards of Health and medical centers effectively reach out to the holistic
healthcare community in the course of their pandemic planning.
2009 Karlo Berger. Some rights reserved. Website Design by Solid Uncoated.
Thanks to Hannah Burr, Kristin Granli, and Jim Kelly.