CERT Training in the Foothill Area

We have arranged an opportunity in our area to receive CERT training.  CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team and is a ready group of organized and trained volunteer community members that operate locally during a disaster.  When a disaster strikes, CERT volunteers spring into action: they check on neighbors, suppress small fires, conduct light urban search and rescue, and provide emergency medical aid and psychological comfort to their neighbors.  In the post-disaster environment, CERT members organize and direct spontaneous volunteers who offer to assist in the community during the crisis.

  

The CERT Program prepares volunteers with 20 hours of classroom and hands-on training in the following areas:

Disaster Preparedness - What is a disaster’s impact on our city’s infrastructure? What structural and non-structural hazards exist in buildings, and what is the role of CERT members during a disaster?

Disaster Suppression - Discovering and reducing potential fire hazards in your home and work place, and strategies and techniques used to extinguish small fires

Terrorism and CERT - Describes the different types of terrorism threats and what you and your community need to do in case of terrorist attacks

Disaster Medical 1 - Treatment for life threatening conditions, the 3 “killers” in a disaster, how and why we “Triage” or sort patients

Disaster Medical 2 - Head-to-toe assessment of victims, treatment of fractures, laceration, sprains, burns, and other injures, and setting up treatment area

Light Search and Rescue - Search and Rescue priorities, how to do size up, and how lifting and cribbing is done with safety in mind

Psychology and Organization - How to recognize and respond to post disaster emotional reactions of victims and rescuers. How to organize your areas and document response actions

We have arranged for a CERT class to be taught in our area:

Reg. Track 7 nights, Thursdays @ 1005 S 2000 E, Monument Park 1st & 2nd
May 17 - June 28, 2012, 6:30 - 9:30 pm
Registration Deadline:  May 3, 2012

Cost:  $30 - Includes the manual, instruction and a very good CERT starter kit 

Register at www.slccert.org

Everyone is welcome to sign up for the training and be a part of the CERT team we are forming in our area.  Please share this information with others who may be interested in emergency preparedness.  Please suggest to all Block Captains, Block Captain Coordinators, and Emergency Prep Chairs in your area to consider taking this training as it correlates directly to their efforts and skills to be used during an emergency.  All community leaders would also benefit from the training as it touches on the command center leadership structure and developing the relationship between existing preparations by the Church, by the Community Council and the City of Salt Lake.

If you know of CERT trained individuals who would like to take a refresher course, they are welcome to attend training and participate.  It is suggested for CERT trained individuals to update their skills every 3 to 5 years.

Please email dave.anderson.1@comcast.net if you have any questions about the training, CERT, Community preparations, or anything else I can help with.

Thank you so much for your help to get the word out.

Dave Anderson

Community and LDS Stake Emergency Prep