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Still catching up... Last Thursday night, I completed my eight-week CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) course through the Maple Valley Fire Department. This is a great program that I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in becoming more prepared to give valuable service in the case of a natural disaster or other emergency situation (e.g., fire, explosion, etc.). It is available in many communities nationwide, so check with your local fire department if you're interested!In reality, in the case of a natural disaster, the local fire department wouldn't likely get to your neighborhood within at least the first three days. That's way too late for people who either (1) are unprepared to be stuck at home that long or (2) have been critically injured. CERT is a small "army" of trained citizen volunteers who can provide leadership in the critical period after a disaster hits (and before professional help arrives). It's part of the U.S. Freedom Corps volunteer initiative, through the Citizen Corps branch. And the best part -- the training is FREE! Still, it's a big investment of time, and a sacrifice for the family at home, so I'm glad it's done. For now, at least, I have my Thursday evenings back!
Here's a short list of some of the things we learned:
- Disaster preparedness
- Disaster medical (including triage and treatment of critical injuries)
- Light search and rescue
- Light fire suppression
- Disaster psychology
On top of the empowerment I feel from knowing how to act in a disaster and how to lead others, I feel a sense of personal fulfillment in volunteering for something in my community -- something that has eluded me but that I've wanted to do for a while.
3 comments:
Congrads from a fellow CERT member from SD! I wish more would take this training. It's a great course with lots of info. And now I don't wish every time some huge disaster hits, what is the best thing for me to do. I feel much more equipt to go do what I need to do. Before I wanted to help yet heard the warnings about to many volunteers create more crisis. Now I know that meant untrained volunteers. I also feel much more secure and able to handle any crisis in general. Yes it is a little time investment but so worth the knowledge and peace of mind the we acquire in a few weeks! Awesome work. Keep learning and training. I started the training about 3 years ago and now am a team leader, did a few of the online FEMA courses, just did a train-the-trainer course, and have met some pretty amazing people. We have some great folks in this area involved and it makes me proud to be a part of such a great bunch! I hope you find as much good in this as I have!
very cool. i'll have to look this up here in DFW. i'd love to do it. tks for the motivation
How cool are you..all CERT-ified. I may have to look into this.. thanks for the kick in the pants for community involvement, I need it.
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