1. What is the Los Angeles County Surge Unit?
The LA County Surge Unit is the "hospital ready" team for volunteers who wish to be assigned primarily to hospitals following disasters. Qualifications for this team include:
• Medical, health or mental health professionals with a current unrestricted license, who maintain an active practice and are currently on staff at an "acute care" hospital or another medical, health or mental health setting in Los Angeles County.
• Retired professionals who maintain current licensure and must have been employed in at least one of the settings mentioned above within the last five years.
• Participants must be interested in volunteering at a hospital or alternative care site (clinic, first aid station, mobile medical asset, etc) following a disaster.

2. Are there any required meetings or trainings for the LA County Surge Unit?
There are no training sessions required to join the LA County Surge Unit. LA County does sponsor a half-day training conference, however, for all DHV (Surge Unit and MRC team) volunteers, annually, usually in the summer. Participation is highly recommended, but not mandatory. Other training sessions may be available to volunteers throughout the year. Volunteers will be invited to training based on profession, unit affiliation and type of training. Volunteers are notified about training opportunities primarily through email.