Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Did you know that in 95 percent of all emergencies, the victim or bystander provides the first immediate assistance on the scene? If it were you, would you know what to do? If you aren't so confident in your emergency response abilities, you may want to consider signing up for CERT classes offered by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Division of Emergency Management. They will be offering new courses beginning this June!
CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team, and CERT training is a program that prepares members of the community to help themselves, their families and their neighbors in the event of an emergency. Often during a wide-spread disaster, emergency agencies and professionals are overwhelmed with the needs of the public. They may be unable to reach citizens in need right away, or may not have enough personnel to help everyone at once. In situations like this, citizens must rely on one another for things like first aid, rescue and more while they await professional help. CERT training enables citizens in the community to access potentially life-saving skills that they can use to help in case of a disaster.
This training takes approximately 18-21 hours to complete, and usually consists of one evening class a week for about two months, although timing of classes may vary. The training is conducted by first responders or other trained CERT instructors in the community. During training, participants learn how to identify and anticipate hazards, prepare themselves and their families for various hazards, reduce fire risks in the home or workplace and extinguish small fires, conduct light search and rescue, set up medical treatment areas and apply basic medical techniques, help reduce survivor stress, and organize both themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective in an emergency.
CERT training is beneficial to just about anyone in the community, including members of a neighborhood watch group, community leaders, business owners, parents, students, teachers or school staff members, communities of faith, clubs or civic organizations, youth groups, or just anyone who is interested in taking an active role in hometown preparedness. CERT courses can equip citizens with life-saving skills, including decision making abilities, rescuer safety and how to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
This June, the Jefferson County Division of Emergency Management will be offering a new CERT class, with nine available units that are free to the public. Each unit will be held at 81 Methodist Church Rd., and the test will be held at the fire station in Monticello. The schedule for the summer CERT class is as follows:
Unit One: Disaster Preparedness - June 7
Unit Two: CERT Organization - June 7
Unit Three: Disaster Medical Operations Part 1- June 9
Unit Four: Disaster Medical Operations Part 2 - June 9
Unit Five: Disaster Psychology – June 14
Unit Six: Fire Safety and Utility Controls – June 16
Unit Seven: Light Search and Rescue Operations – June 21
Unit Eight: CERT and Terrorism- June 24
Unit Nine: Course Review and Final Exam Exercise – June 30 (This will be held at the fire station)
For more information, or to apply for the classes, contact Paula Carroll, Director of the Emergency Management office at (850) 342-0211 or (850) 408-0908.