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

How to Maintain Emotional Health in an Emergency

One of the most important aspects of emergency preparations is plans for your emotional health! Disasters and emergencies can have a large impact on your stress levels. This is especially true if you’ve experienced a disaster previously.

Here are some tips on how to take care of your emotional health during a disaster or emergency.

What you feel during a disaster

You may feel a wide variety of emotions during a stressful event. Try to remember in the moment, that these emotions are temporary. Try to be patient with yourself and your emotions and be helpful towards your family and neighbors.

These are all common responses in an emergency situation:

• Feeling physically weak and mentally tired. Many times, people feel tired, sad, numb, lonely or worried.
• Difficulty making decisions or focusing
• Frequently becoming frustrated. Also feeling frustrated more quickly.
• Experiencing changes in appetite or sleep patterns.

How to get your emotional health back on track

One of the best things you can do to get back on track is to establish a routine. The emergency will have disrupted your daily routine and getting back into that will help you emotionally. Remember that this might take some time.

Basic necessities. Try to find a place to evaluate your situations. Find a safe location to assess your physical needs.

Eat healthy. During times of high stress, you’ll want to make sure that you are eating well. You’ll feel better than if you eat junk food. That is why it’s so important to have a healthy balance to your food storage supply. Read our previous post on steps to choosing a food storage kit.

Adequate rest. Be sure to get enough sleep and rest for your needs. This might be hard when your routine has changed so rapidly. However, rest will help you overcome your stress.

Be patient and loving. While many people are feeling frustrated, they can get moody. Be sure to be patient with others and yourself. However, this doesn’t mean that you can just go off by yourself. Staying connected, talking, with others can help you cope and feel support. Feeling others care and love is an important part of emotional health.

Make plans. During an emergency, you’ll find difficulty staying focused. For this reason, it’s important to gather information and set priorities on what you need to do. Have something to write down your list so that you can remember what you need to do. It’s also helpful to keep your family and friends involved with your plans so they can remind you what you need to do.

If depression continues

Most people will feel better after a few days. However, there are some that can’t seem to overcome their emotional stress. If you find yourself or others experiencing these symptoms, two weeks or more after an event, consider reaching out for additional help.

• Bursts of anger
• Difficulty sleeping
• Loss of appetite
• Emotional outbursts
• Headaches and stomachaches
• Fatigue
• Feelings of guilt, helplessness or hopelessness
• Avoiding the presence of loved ones

Article from TheReadyStore.com

Disaster preparedness center to help prepare for 'the big one'

Getting Utah ready for "the big one" just got easier, as Intermountain Healthcare opened the first hospital-based disaster preparedness center west of the Mississippi River on Friday.

Read the full article at the following link:

          Disaster preparedness center to help prepare for 'the big one'

Making Emergency Preparations For Your Pet

Many times the pets in our lives become more than just animals – they become family!

Pets depend on us for their safety and well-being. The best way to protect them is to have a plan for their safety during an emergency. Here are some things you can do to create a plan to protect your pet in an emergency.

Prepare beforehand
Evacuation plans - Plan to take your pet with you in an evacuation. Know which hotels and motels along your evacuation route allow for pets. If you think an evacuation might be coming, call ahead to make reservations. Ask if no-pet policies can be overlooked during an evacuation.

Red Cross - Note that the Red Cross cannot accept pets. They only allow service animals that assist people to be in a Red Cross shelter.

Drills - Include your pets in evacuation drills. This will help your family realize what they can do to help your pet but it will also help your pet become accustomed to their carriers.

ID Information - Make sure that your pets are wearing collars with up-to-date information. Also consider including your pet’s vaccination information with your emergency documents. Many times, pet shelters will require proof of current vaccinations in an emergency to reduce the spread of disease.

Microchips - There are many tags that you can place on your pet too. These microchips allow you to track your pet’s location and could come in handy during an emergency.

During an emergency
Get your ducks in a row - Many times, before an emergency, warnings are issued hours beforehand. When a warning is issued, be sure to locate your pet at that time. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Survival kit - Store your pet’s emergency supply in an accessible location. It should include a sturdy transportation carrier, a high-quality leash, food and water, a manual can opener, copies of vaccination information, a first-aid kit, a current photo of your pet in case it gets lost and a small toy.

Many times a pet backpack will do the trick. It’s a great way to have a pet carry its own emergency supplies.

After an emergency
Behavior changes - Be sure to keep an eye on your pet after a disaster. Many times, pet’s behavior can change dramatically after a disaster. Sometimes they can become aggressive or defensive. Be sure to watch them to ensure that they do not hurt others.

Fences - When you’re allowed to return home, be sure to check all the fences and other areas of your home. Fences might have new holes in them that weren’t there before.

Sense of smell - Keep your pet close for the next couple days after an emergency, many times their sense of smell is thrown off after a disaster. This will cause them to become disoriented on where their home is at.

New hazards. Be aware that there might be some hazards that could affect your pet’s nose, paw or hoof. Things like fertilizers, spilled chemicals and other things can affect your pet but not affect you.

Article from TheReadyStore.com

New Calender Item - Community Council Mtg.

Bonneville Hills and Wasatch Hollow 
Community Council combined meeting

Anderson-Foothill Library
1135 S. 2100 E., SLC, UT
7pm - 8:30pm

Agenda  Rebecca Maw Conducting

1.  Detective Tom Gallegos Salt Lake City Police Department (801) 330-4256
            Crime Report and Q&A
            Traffic calming in our area – Discussion & solutions

2.  Captain Scott Freithe SLC Fire Department  Safety & Q&A

3.  Shawn Mc Donough SLC Community Liaison Report from the City

4.  Charlie Luke - City Council Dist 6 - SLC Council Update

5.  Brian King – Representative - Legislative Update

6.  Neighborhood Watch – Introduction for Residents Det. Tom Gallegos & Det. Rick Wall

ShakeOut stories: Preparing for the big one

KSL covered the Great Utah Shakeout very closely...follow the link below to read their coverage.

Make sure to watch all their replay broadcasts that gave updates throughout the day.


ShakeOut stories: Preparing for the big one

Emergency Essentials 72hr Kit Class

Emergency Essentials is offering classes to customers, FREE of charge. The classes will be held at all store locations (click here to see locations: http://bit.ly/UtahStoresLocations).

The classes are offered at two different times per store and will last between 30 to 60 minutes. Registration is limited. If a class is full or cancelled, such information will be stated in the options.

Here are the classes being offered for April 2012:

72-hour Emergency Kits

South Jordan    Tues. April 17^th            2 pm and 7 pm

Orem               Wed. April 18^th            2 pm and 7 pm

Bountiful           Tues. April 24^th            2 pm and 7 pm

Murray             Wed. April 25^th            2 pm and 7 pm

Click on this link to register:

            EmergencyEssentials Class

Two New Calendar Items Posted

Two upcoming Community Emergency Preparedness meetings posted to the calendar.

On April 19th there is a Community Emergency Preparedness Meeting at Zion Lutheran Church from 7:00pm to 8pm. The topic that will be discussed at this meeting will be First Aid. Please come and bring your Neighbors.

On May 10th there will be an Community Emergency Preparedness Idea Exchange Fair at the LDS Stake Center on 1300 South above Sunset Mortuary from 7:00pm to 9:pm. There will be tables with ideas from each of the areas like Food Storage, First Aide, Communication, Water, etc. Please come and bring your Neighbors. Hopefully you will come away from the fair with ideas that you can use.

New Items Posted

I have added a few items in the Documents and  Video Links items on the EP page and the Ham page...check them out!

Tri-City Emergency Preparedness Fair

Tri-City Emergency Preparedness Fair

Farmington Jr. High

150 S. 200 W.

Farmington, UT  84025

Saturday, April 21

10am – 2pm

Announcing a tri-city emergency preparedness fair to be held at Farmington Jr. High on Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm. Everyone has a responsibility to be prepared! 72 hour food kits are available for purchase by clicking here. Only those who pre-order are guaranteed a kit so don't delay! Extra kits will be available on a first come basis. 

Make A Kit - Be Ready Utah

Make A Kit - Be Ready Utah

Utah Red Cross Sheltering Exercise

Please see how you can help or be involved with the Utah Red Cross Sheltering exercise for this Great Utah Shakeout starting April 17th. (follow the link at the bottom of the page)

The following is a message from ARC to all of our Citizen Corps Programs. 

-----

We would like to invite the Citizen Corp Councils across the state of Utah and their partner program members to be a part of "The Great Utah Shake Out" after the "Drop cover and hold on!" exercise.

After the initial "Drop, cover, and hold on!" activities are over on April 17th, 2012 The American Red Cross and our partners as part of our participation  in The Great Utah Shake Out; will keep the public interaction/education going! We will open three full scale shelters across Utah. A shelter in Salt Lake City will open on April 17th for two full days! Our Shelters in Provo and Layton will be open for 24 hours beginning on April 18th.

We have an affiliated volunteer roster of close to 750 CERT, MRC, USAonWatch, and Citizen Corp Council leadership members. They have invested their valuable time training to help the American Red Cross run emergency shelters. Only a small few have had the opportunity to exercise their sheltering skills. The Great Utah Shake presents another opportunity to continue our emergency shelter education and training. We know you and many of your members will be busy during the Great Utah Shake Out but for those who are not or would like to take it one step further; sign up today to help the American Red Cross during our exercise. There are two methods of participation you can see by simply going to www.utahredcross.org and push the button which will take you to (http://utahredcross.org/general.asp?SN=2959&OP=17592&IDCapitulo=I2OD6QV708)

Frederick Henderson
Emergency Services Director

American Red Cross
Northern Utah Chapter
2955 Harrison Boulevard, Suite 204
Ogden, Utah 84403
(801) 625-0853 (p)
(801) 627 3549 (f)
(801) 458-3917 (m)

Are You Ready to ShakeOut?

Are You Ready to ShakeOut?

A major earthquake in a populated area could cause unprecedented devastation in Utah. What we do now, before a big earthquake, will determine what our lives will be like afterwards.  With earthquakes an inevitable part of Utah’s future, we must act quickly to ensure that disasters do not become catastrophes.

The Great California ShakeOut in October 2010 involved more than 7.9 million Californians through a broad-based outreach program, media partnerships, and public advocacy by hundreds of partners. The drill is now expanding to other regions of the country. Utah’s first ShakeOut is planned for April 17, 2012, at 10:15 a.m.

     A key aspect of the ShakeOut is the integration of comprehensive science-based earthquake research and the lessons learned from decades of social science research about why people get prepared.  The result is a “teachable moment” on par with having an actual earthquake (often followed by increased interest in getting ready for earthquakes).  ShakeOut creates the sense of urgency that is needed for people, organizations, and communities to get prepared, to practice what to do to be safe, and to learn what plans need to be improved.

Not just any drill will accomplish this; it needs to be big.  It must inspire communities to come together.  It must involve children at school and parents at work, prompting conversations at home. It must allow every organization, city, etc., to make it their own event.

  

The 2012 ShakeOut drill will be the largest preparedness event in Utah history. To participate, go to www.ShakeOut.org/Utah and pledge your family, school, business, or organization’s participation in the drill. Registered participants will receive information on how to plan their drill and how to create a dialogue with others about earthquake preparedness. All organizers ask is that participants register (so they can be counted and receive communications), and at the minimum practice "drop, cover, and hold on" at the specified time. It is only a five minute commitment for something that can save your life. It all begins with registering, which is free and open to everyone.

For more information, visit www.ShakeOut.org/Utah.