Consultant Dave Blankenship:
Dave was honored that the Columbia/Boone County Health Department let him work with them on the Medical Reserve Corps Board of Directors from 2004-2006. The MRC website he created for them has changed very little since when he returned to St. Louis in 2006:
http://mrc.missouri.org.
Dave's highlight in the MRC: The health department let him participate with eight of their employees in a 2006 national emergency drill...and they were even nice enough to pay his hotel expenses. The drill was written up by the Wall Street Journal two days later.
He said: "I can't tell you how exciting it was to be tapped by the overall drill leader for one of the triage positions AFTER the drill started. Running through the hallways while putting on my vest, then getting just-in-time instructions for the role...it felt like the movie-of-the-week!"
He was graduated from the Columbia Fire Department's CERT training and the Columbia Police Department's Citizen Academy. He says Columbia is a great place and thanks then-MRC Director Frank Barfield for some great memories.