Information for Health Organizations and Employers

 

For Health Organizations Requesting ESAR-VHP Volunteers 

Health organizations that are responsible for securing additional health professionals during a response can request help with identifying professionals with the specific skillsets that they need to better serve their community. State, territorial, and Freely Associated State ESAR-VHP systems can then match the best volunteer candidates to each job. 

Credential Levels

ESAR-VHP volunteers can be an important part of your organization’s disaster response plan. ESAR-VHP registers health care professionals with a wide range of skillsets and professional backgrounds. To effectively identify and deploy health professionals with varying levels of clinical competency, ASPR developed a uniform process for classifying and assigning volunteers registered with ESAR-VHP into one of four credential levels, based on the credentials provided and verified.

Credential Level	Clinical Competency
Level 1	Clinically active in a hospital, either as an employee or by having hospital privileges.
Level 2	Clinically active in a wide variety of settings, such as clinics, nursing homes, and shelters.
Level 3	Meet the basic qualifications necessary to practice in the state or territory in which they are registered.
Level 4	Possess experience or education that would be useful for assisting clinicians and providing basic healthcare not controlled by the scope of practice laws (e.g., may include health professions students or retired health professionals who no longer hold an active license).

Assigning volunteer health professionals to these different levels:

• Reduces the credential verification burden for emergency care delivery
• Allows personnel to be allocated according to need
• Permits volunteers to be used at their highest capacity
• Facilitates sharing of volunteer personnel

Partner with Your Jurisdiction's ESAR-VHP

When disaster strikes, organizations (e.g., acute care hospital, emergency medical services provider (EMS), emergency management agency, public health agency, or other health care entity) need to be prepared to save lives and serve the health needs of their communities. ESAR-VHP can help your organization increase the number of staff available to mitigate surge and protect the public’s health during disasters and public health emergencies.

In the event of a disaster or public health emergency, organizations may require additional personnel to mitigate the impact of surge on the health care workforce. Alternately, organizations may have personnel available that can support other facilities or organizations. ESAR-VHP encourages health professionals to register in advance of a disaster or public health emergency so they can easily offer their medical expertise during a response. ESAR-VHP helps jurisdictions coordinate across facilities and health care organizations to identify health care workforce needs and distribute volunteer health professionals where they are needed most. 

Partner Resources

There are several ways organizations can share information about ESAR-VHP with health professionals. For example, organizations can include information in partner or volunteer opportunity sections on their website or include a call for volunteers in a member newsletter. To support these efforts, ASPR can provide any of the following materials:

• ESAR-VHP logo
• Banner advertisements
• Program brochures (downloadable)
• Web-ready content with overviews of ESAR-VHP
• Print PSAs
• Newsletter/email content
• Partner drop-in web copy

For more information about partnering with ESAR-VHP and to obtain the materials listed above, e-mail esarvhp@hhs.gov.

For Employers of ESAR-VHP Volunteers

As employers of health professionals, hospitals, clinics, and private practices, you are in the unique position to offer key resources in times of disasters and public health emergencies. Physicians, nurses, technicians, EMS clinicians, and counselors all provide desperately needed services and can provide critical aid if they have the flexibility to respond to an emergency quickly.

By encouraging your employees to register with ESAR-VHP, you are helping to ensure qualified medical assistance is available in times of crisis. Whether your facility is managing the crisis, or you are helping to provide key personnel to an incident, you will enable all health professionals to serve at their highest capacity.

Champion Your Volunteers

Health professionals say they wish they could volunteer more often to help their community and lend their expertise in a crisis. One of the few things holding them back, however, is feeling guilty for leaving their colleagues behind with extra work. Another barrier is simply not being verified in advance of an emergency situation.

While it is difficult to manage an average day's workload when you are short-staffed, the positive experience for employees who are encouraged to volunteer is invaluable – both to the employee and the employer. Health professional volunteers say they come back to their job re-energized and focused on their broader mission of helping people. You can help to foster that kind of sentiment by encouraging your employees to register with ESAR-VHP.

When a health professional registers with their State/Territory ESAR-VHP program, they are positioning themselves for immediate deployment, should they be needed. As with any volunteer opportunity, they are not required to participate in a response if contacted. Participation is optional, so volunteers will have a chance to speak with their employers before accepting a deployment; however, your involvement and support is a critically important part of this program.

For more information on championing potential volunteers in your workplace, contact ESAR-VHP at esarvhp@hhs.gov.