adminFeb. 9, 2011
You can’t always avoid a disaster. When Mother Nature sends her wrath, it can create chaos and stress.
Disasters and other emergencies can stretch emergency responders, but there’s also another group ready to take action.
The group is called Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
A certified CERT member could be a neighbor, a friend, a co-worker.
They’re everyday citizens.
“Emergency responders can’t be everywhere initially,” said Gene Shepherd, the emergency manager with the Kansas City Office of Emergency Management (OEM). “This gives them (citizens) training to know how to deal with those matters until first responders do get on the scene.
“It helps to protect the community in that way.”
“What we say about CERT is it’s for the disaster we hope never happens and the smaller emergencies that happen every day,” said Jennifer Fales, coordinator of training and outreach for Kansas City’s OEM.
Kansas City’s OEM offers CERT training four to six times a year, and the next series of training sessions is nearing, beginning on Feb. 22.
Topics will include disaster preparedness, team organization, disaster medical operations, light rescue and search, disaster psychology, among others.
During the disaster psychology portion, attendees will learn how individuals may react and feel in the aftermath and how to respond to those individuals.
A total of six training classes will be offered, and to become CERT certified, an individual must attend all six.
“When people have the slightest interest, they should peek into something like this to see if it’s something they would find fulfilling or something that’s fulfilling to the community,” OEM Information Officer Dennis Gagnon said. “Depending on the event, it’s absolutely necessary to have people like that to fill in.
“I think we all kind of forget that fail-safe system is back there. When it becomes an event where they’re needed, I think everyone is quite appreciative that they’re involved.”
CERT is open to those at least 18 years old and older, and is offered free of charge to people who live or work in Kansas City.
CERT classes provide a mixture of hands-on training and concludes with a “full functional exercise” that creates a scenario for individuals to practice the skills they learned.
Each class will be offered from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Kansas City’s OEM, 635 Woodland. Listed below is the training schedule:
Feb. 22: Disaster preparedness and team organization
March 2: Disaster medical operations
March 8: Utilities presentation and fire safety
March 15: Terrorism and CERT and disaster psychology
March 22: Light search and rescue
March 29: Full scale exercise and training wrap up
To register for the class or for more information, contact Fales, (816) 784-9304 or e-mail Jennifer_Fales@kcmo.org.
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