Medical Reserve Corps — Public Health Acupuncture New Mexico

NM Integrative Wellness Medical Reserve Corps

Supporting and stabilizing communities in crisis using an integrative response.

The medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is part of a nationwide initiative to pre-register, manage, and mobilize volunteers to help their communities respond to various events including, mass casualty incidents, emergency medical response, man-made and natural disasters, shelter operations, critical crisis support events etc. MRC units also help to foster disaster preparedness on a local level and serve as Ambassadors to the Office of the United States Surgeon General in the implementation of the Surgeon General’s Health Initiatives such as health education, and mass vaccinations. The structure of each MRC unit varies, depending on its own unique requirements and on the needs of the people and community that it serves and will aid the local, existing community emergency medical response systems.

Our MRC’s mission statement is supporting and stabilizing communities in crisis using an integrative response.

Our NM Integrative Wellness MRC team is a disaster response team composed of volunteers, including licensed acupuncturists, mental health professionals, dog therapists along with NM certified acudetox specialists following the 5 point auricular detox protocols. Our mission is to support and stabilize communities in crisis, (evacuees and first responders) using an integrative response, including community acupuncture, psychological first aid, and Acudetox for the prevention and treatment of addiction and stress mitigation. We also provide acutherapy education and training to help communities develop skills and resilience in times of crisis.

Our team has responded to:

Our first response was for a School shooting in NW New Mexico; providing 1501 acu treatments and emotional support over a 2 week period to staff and students.
School tragedies statewide; providing acu treatments and emotional support for staff and students. .
We have provided acu treatments and emotional support to Emergency Operations Center staff, Police Departments, Firefighters, Emergency Medical Technicians and Crisis Response Teams post critical incidents
We traveled to Southern NM to help with the immigrant response, and to Western NM to help with a Nunnery dealing with a devastating number of COVID deaths.
We supported the residents of COVID Hotel with compassion, care, COVID testing and vaccinations during their convalescence.
We ran a warm-line for COVID responders.
Our dog therapist provided window dog therapy to shut-ins at Assisted Living Facilities, and greeted children coming off school buses when distance learning was discontinued.
In 2023 we have responded with stress mitigation to a mass shooting, a school shooting, and a school suicide.

Additionally we continue to teach classes in Acutherapy, Acudetox, and during COVID, distance learning classes via zoom. We have put together acu therapy seed kits for stress mitigation, and most recently, to help with the alarming OD deaths, a Narcan kit. We have developed a professional video training for Acutherapy which is free to volunteer MRC groups, and volunteer Fire Departments around the country and available for a small fee to others which helps to support our unit.

Since our inception, we have received the NM MRC Unit of the year award in 2017, the MRC Outstanding Community Award for COVID 19 Behavioral Health Support in 2021, and a write up in the January 2022 MRC InTouch eDigest Newsletter.

There is much to be done in New Mexico . If you would like to help our friends and neighbors in need, and our responders who do so much, join our team and be a part of the solution.

Donate to MRC

Consider donating to our MRC to help provide supplies, travel money for volunteers who are deployed to crises, and operating costs of volunteer insurance, website, and training video hosting. Thank you!

To register as a member of the NM Integrative Wellness Medical Reserve Corps, please do the following. (45 mins)
- Go to https://volunteer.nmmrcserves.org/
- Click on: Register now
- Go to: Add organizations
- Choose: NM Integrative Wellness MRC Unit, by checking the check box, then click the select-it button at the bottom of the window. (If you cannot see our unit, go ahead and choose NM MRC and we can transfer you later)
- Go to account information and create a user name and password. You will need your drivers license information.
- Follow the prompts to complete Profile, Identity, Deployment Preference, Contacts, Occupation, Medical History, Licenses etc. You can do each section at your own pace. It takes from 30-45 min. Having your graduation dates, license numbers, vaccination records would be handy, however, not having them doesn’t interfere with your completing most of it.
If you have any questions about registering, please contact:
Eleni Fredlund LMHC, LAc, ADS Registered Trainer. Unit Coordinator
eleni@fredlund.net (505) 709-0033
Initial Training
After Registration, the minimum trainings needed for deployment for deployment include: Healthcare provider CPR; FEMA IS 100; Psychological First Aid (if you are not a licensed counselor); and Acutherapy in Disaster Setting (if you are not an acupuncturist or certified acudetox specialist). Please complete FEMA IS 200, FEMA IS 700, and FEMA IS 800 as soon as you can but within the year.
We also have other elective trainings on relevant topics. Many trainings are online and free.
1. Healthcare Provider CPR (8 hours - 4 hours for renewal)
2. Complete FEMA Trainings 100, 200, 700 and 800 (free online classes 3-4 hours each).
You will need to complete FEMA 100 in order to be deployable. Once that class is complete you can take your time with the rest, and try to complete one per month.
- Go to https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid Choose Register for a FEMA SID button on Right
- Go to: https://training.fema.gov Find the tab “Independent Study” for online courses.
  Choose the course needed such as IS-100c or IS-700 b. Use the search box if needed. After reading the course overview, you will notice on the right hand side there are three highlighted links, which are “take this course”, “classroom materials”, and “take final exam” Complete Interactive Web Based Course and the final exam. Remember to print your certificate after taking the exam and send a copy to Eleni.
- Please note that the IS program requires a FEMA SID to be used instead of your SSN. You should register for one before taking the class but you also have the option to get it right before sending in your exam.
3. Complete Psychological First Aid if not a licensed counselor (free online class –6-7 hours)
- Go to: https://learn.nctsn.org Choose PFA tab Create an account. Take the course and the final exam. Save Certificate and send it to Eleni.
4. Complete an Acudetox or Introduction to Acu-therapy Training if not an acupuncturist or certified acudetox specialist ( 3-4 hrs for Acu-therapy. 70 hrs for Acudetox)
- Go to www.phanm.org Trainings tab to look for upcoming classes. Any National Acupuncture Detoxification Association class also qualifies.
Send all certificates by email to Eleni - eleni@fredlund.net
You are deployable once you are registered with our unit, and have taken FEMA 100, Psychological First Aid, and an Acu-therapy training.
Required Activities for Ongoing Members
An NM IW MRC member is required to attend 2 meetings per year. Meetings are 2 hours long, and occur quarterly in Central NM. Members must also respond to two deployments per year one of which can be the NM annual MRC Volunteer Summit (usually held in Albuquerque in Spring).
Questions? Contact Eleni Fredlund, NM Integrative Wellness MRC Unit Leader at: eleni@fredlund.net
Blood-borne pathogens –1 hour
HIPAA – I hour
Make up your personal deployment kit and your acudetox jump kitso that you are all ready to go out to help when you are contacted to deploy.
Elective Trainings
Until Help Arrives (at the summit)
Stop The Bleed (at the summit)
QPR (suicide prevention) ad https://qprinstitute.comfor individual online gatekeeper training. $29.95
Deployment 1
Our MRC was deployed for the first time after the Aztec school shooting on December 7th, 2017. Eleni Fredlund, Bobbie McKenzie, and two other MRC volunteers, Scott Paterson, CADS and Deb Boehme, DOM, went to the High School and Middle School over a two-week period. They were joined by three acudetox staff from Navajo Regional Behavioral Health (NRBHC), Albuquerque Public Schools Counselors, and the Crisis Response team. Over the two week period, volunteers documented 1501 ear-seed treatments to students and staff. Students enjoyed the quiet of the acudetox room and did not want to leave even after their ear-seeds were put in. Some were so interested they were taught the Shen Men point and trained as “seed ambassadors.” They bought ear-seeds themselves from Amazon. It was the time that the Star Wars movie ‘The Last Jedi’ came out and because Eleni is a fan, she sent the teenagers out “to go forth and seed the universe!” Approximately 200 students were taught the ear-seeds. They provided an unknown number of additional ear-seed treatments for their families and friends.
MRC Training 1
Ear acupressure seed class for stress reduction given during the MRC annual volunteer summit in Albuquerque in February 2017, 2 acupressure seed classes offered to the public via Zoom in Jan and March 2021, many classes given on request
2020-2022 Covid Activities
Our team participated in Covid Hotel support; mass vaccinations; Window dog therapy support for elderly who were isolated; dog therapy for school children returning post-Covid; EoC support, national guard support; mental health support for organizations who had lost many members to Covid, Navajo parade vehicle event. Due to Covid, we conducted several online Acu-therapy trainings and as a result started production of an online video training.
2023
Unfortunately this year, there were some mass shooting events that we were called to support families and staff - Farmington and Dulce. We also supported family and staff in two school suicides. We finished production of our online training videos, revamped our website and the trainings are now available for free to other MRC groups and volunteer Fire departments. They are available for a small fee to others. The money will go towards supporting our unit.
How Local Acupuncturists Are Helping Traumatized Communities
The Colorado Acupuncture Medical Reserve Corps has aided communities during fires, floods, and shootings.
BY JANE PALMER | 5280 MAY 2017
When the Cold Springs Fire began to torch hundreds of acres near Nederland this past July, one of the medical teams that arrived on the scene didn’t come armed with bandages or painkillers. Instead, its members carried needles.
This was the Colorado Acupuncture Medical Reserve Corps, the first statewide, federally funded team of volunteer health professionals dedicated solely to acupuncture. Since January 2014, the group has helped first responders and survivors handle the trauma associated with fires, floods, and shootings through a free five-needle ear treatment that’s designed to coax the nervous system out of flight-or-fight mode. Although the corps has received praise from many grateful patients over the years, all of the feedback has been anecdotal—until this month, when the University of Colorado Boulder releases a study that analyzes whether CAMRC’s technique actually reduces stress.
The value of acupuncture as a tool in extreme situations gained wider recognition during the aftermath of 9/11. Lafayette acupuncturist Randi Savage knew of fellow practitioners who were using the five-needle treatment to help New Yorkers cope with the horrific event. When a spate of wildfires sprang up in Colorado in 2012, Savage figured she and other local acupuncturists could put their expertise to use in the same way. The group helped survivors and first responders through other local disasters, too, including the Aurora Theater shooting later that year and the Front Range floods in 2013. To secure funding, Savage registered the organization as a medical reserve corps with the Department of Health and Human Services. Three and a half years later, CAMRC has grown to more than 80 volunteers.
Some of the acupuncturists have also joined forces with national and international nonprofits to provide support beyond the Centennial State’s borders, traveling to Nepal after the devastating earthquake there two years ago, and Orlando following the Pulse nightclub shooting this past June. But the acupuncturists’ focus remains on Colorado. They’ve returned to Nederland every few weeks since the Cold Springs Fire to try to help residents sleep. “Getting acupuncture treatments not only helped calm my nervous system but also helped me become aware of how triggered I was on a daily basis,” says Laurelyn Sayah, a firefighter who helped battle the blaze.
To test whether their treatments have been effective, some Nederland firefighters—along with police officers and civilians from Brighton, Northglenn, and Boulder—participated in the CU study. They were among a broad cross-section of people suffering from various degrees of stress (including no anxiety at all) who received one, two, or three treatments from CAMRC acupuncturists over a six-week period. Participants took a survey measuring parameters such as their moods and perceived levels of stress, both before and 24 to 48 hours after each acupuncture session. At press time, researchers were still analyzing the data. But with wildfire season already heating up, the corps expects—regardless of the study’s outcome—to be more in demand than ever.