State encourages health care workers to volunteer

MADISON (AP) — Both retired and current health care workers are being encouraged to sign up to a database used to contact people who can help out during a natural disaster or public health emergency.

The state Department of Health Services is toting the Wisconsin Emergency Assistance Volunteer Registry during volunteer week.

Volunteers on the database help local response teams organize relief efforts during large scale emergencies anywhere in Wisconsin. Doctors, nurses, EMTs, as well as professionals in behavioral health and animal health are encouraged to register.

Health care workers can self-register on the site, which was created in 2003. About 1,400 volunteers have registered so far and were tapped to help in Milwaukee during screenings of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina and staff Red Cross shelters during floods in Wisconsin.