| fgoodwin 2005-10-06, 10:46 pm |
| CERT Practices for Disaster Response
http://www.hvjournal.com/articles.p...saster_Response
http://tinyurl.com/cg7ud
By: Mindy Hatfield
The Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, practiced their medical
and life-saving skills at a practical training exam in LaVerkin on
Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005.
CERT members from LaVerkin, Hurricane and Virgin must undergo 20 hours
of classroom training on basic first aid, light search and rescue, fire
extinguishing and emergency preparedness in order to be certified. CERT
would respond to assist the fire department and police in times of
emergency such as floods, earthquakes, tornadoes or other disasters.
"We have a good relationship with police and fire," said Rita Bice,
teacher of the CERT classes. "They have respect for what we do for
them."
The classes, which are held three times a year, are taught by Cyndi
Moore and Rita Bice and always end with a practical training exam,
which lasts about an hour. Saturday's demonstration was both a
completion exam as well as a refresher course for past CERT graduates.
The exams are made as realistic as possible, so members are better able
to cope with what may occur in reality. CERT even has their own moulage
team to makeup volunteer victim with gashes, burns and other wounds to
make the ailments realistic.
On Saturday, the team blocked off a section of 320 North in LaVerkin,
and went house to house to assess situations and locate victims.
Practicing under realistic conditions allows CERT members to better
respond to what patients may need and how to assist them in a real
disaster.
David Williamson, a member of the youth team, decided to take the class
because "it seemed like a good thing to do. I want to become a
doctor."
Williamson's experience in the class has taught him to "access
damage, to know what to do and what not to do (during a disaster)."
CERT members are all types of people and any are welcome to take the
classes.
"Everyone finds their niche," said Bice. "There's a place for
everyone."
Several members have taken the class as a family, so the entire family
is trained and prepared to assist themselves and their community;
others have taken it alone or with friends.
The basics that CERT members learn in the classroom are emergency
preparedness and safety. In the first class, participants are taught
about 72-hour kits and other forms of preparedness. Participants learn
their responsibilities lie with their family's safety first, their
neighbor's safety second, and then the rest of the community's
safety third. After members have assured their family and neighbors are
safe, the group will meet at a central location to gather supplies and
then head out to help in the community.
The Hurricane Valley has the largest youth CERT team in Utah. This
particular youth group has even been invited to Bryce Canyon training
in November to do a demonstration to show educators what the youth can
accomplish. The goal is to get CERT training in the high schools as
either school curriculum or as an extra-curricular activity.
So whether their goal of getting into schools becomes a reality, the
members of CERT believe they are making things better for themselves
and the community in times of disaster.
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