The West Central Medical Response System (WCMRS) serves a primarily rural area that has a population of approximately 81,127 people spread over a 14,607 square mile area. WCMRS serves the following counties: Grant, Hooker, Thomas, Arthur, McPherson, Logan, Keith, Lincoln, Perkins, Chase, Hayes, Frontier, Dundy, Hitchcock, Red Willow, and Furnas.
WCMRS is the sixth Medical Response System to be implemented by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services under a federally funded grant program. The purpose of the Nebraska Regional Medical Response Systems is to prepare local medical systems, in partnership and collaboration with public health, fire, law enforcement, emergency management, government entities and community organizations, for an integrated medical response to any disaster, including those that could result from a terrorist attack. The WCMRS is committed to improving the region’s response to a disaster.
Certain events such as infectious disease outbreaks, mass casualty incidents, bioterrorism events, terrorist incidents involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction, a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and/or explosive (CBRNE) device capable of creating mass casualties, and other public health emergencies can effect an entire region of the state of Nebraska. These incidents call for a coordinated regional response and a plan for the coordination of agencies involved, the inventory of resources, the communication between Medical Response System partners, and the promotion of cooperation between response agencies. The WCMRS Regional Plan integrates elements of existing emergency response plans and does not supersede or replace them but is meant to interface with existing response plans.