If a catastrophic disaster ever occurs in Evanston, city officials are betting on a new volunteer group of medical professionals to rush into action.

The Evanston Department of Health and Human Services has started the Medical Reserve Corps in conjunction with the city’s Emergency Services and Management Agency. The new organization accepts certified volunteers in the medical field who can commit to helping others in the time of a medical emergency.

“Should half the city need assistance, we’d need additional support,” said Tom Janetske, program supervisor and assistant director of the agency.

About 40 Evanston residents so far have applied to join the Evanston Medical Reserve, Janetske said.

Evanston’s reserve is a part of the federal Medical Reserve Corps formed in 2002 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. There are now 20 medical reserve units registered in Illinois and 361 across the country.

Definite training plans have yet to be made, but city health officials say training will likely include drills for bioterrorism and other disasters.

In addition to first-response duties, the Evanston team would assist officials in community projects such as immunizations, health drills, county health fairs and conferences, Janetske said.

Although reserve corps are typically funded by government grants, Evanston health officials are looking into private funding.

Janetske said he did not know the exact cost for the Evanston medical reserve.

Roohi Husain, coordinator for the federal Region V Medical Reserve Corps, which includes Illinois, said the program’s goal is to “strengthen the public health emergency structure and improve emergency preparedness.”

But when the deadly waters of Hurricane Katrina swept across Gulfport, Miss., a Medical Reserve Team was registered there but no one had signed up to handle the disaster.

“We tried a couple times to do some recruiting, but we get these hurricanes down here and that made it difficult for us to get volunteers,” said Tom Blakeney, program supervisor for the Gulfport Medical Reserve Corps. “Most of our medical professionals have other commitments.”

Blakeney said there was a strong response from other medical reserves after Katrina, but those were out-of-town units, whereas the purpose of the medical reserve is to have local volunteers.

In some cases, reserve units do not participate in emergency response assistance at all. The American Red Cross of Central Illinois runs a medical reserve that only does preparedness work, said Billy Woodward, director of emergency services. Preparedness involves teaching the public about safety procedures in times of crisis.

“The medical aspect is totally gone from our program,” Woodward said.

Woodward said he was unable to get insurance from the national American Red Cross, preventing volunteers from responding to emergency calls.

His unit now focuses on using puppet shows to teach youth about disaster preparedness.

In Evanston, the first orientation for medical reserve volunteers has been set for Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.

Reach Vincent Bradsaw at [email protected].