Since September 11, 2001, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programs have expanded to meet the growing number of people wanting to be trained for disaster preparedness and to help their communities.  While the extra help during a disaster or even educational settings are needed due to lack of resources, the use of volunteer responders presents a unique challenge to emergency service managers.

Even when trained, volunteers are often not prepared for the physical, mental and psychological assault upon their bodies and senses for very long.  As a result, their needs will vary from professional emergency workers.  As such, emergency managers have a more complex job than when only managing professionals.

The CERT program in Chandler, AZ is one of the largest in the state, growing to over 400 people trained in the last year, and has encountered many of the problems associated with a rapidly growing volunteer program.  During this growth we have recognized several problems with effective disaster management and the human element.  We have identified communication issues, effective incident command, a lack of focus that can lead to freelancing at scenes and the psychological needs of responders.  Currently, these issues are being addressed through added training in critical areas, mandatory critical incident stress debriefing and further studies to better our program.

Currently, we are examining several ideas to help alleviate these problems through continuing education.  Professional responders need to work alongside CERT members and become use to a different dynamic for recognizing physical and emotional exhaustion.  CERT members need to be trained in assertiveness and defusing potentially volatile situations.  Additionally, team members need to receive training each year to refresh their skills and be reminded of our mission: To do the greatest good for the greatest number!

Since the horrific events of September 11, 2001, millions of Americans have felt compelled to volunteer in their communities and/or seek training to prepare themselves for any future disaster that may occur.  In fact, the response has been so large that many government agencies and organizations have had trouble finding enough tasks for the volunteers or holding enough classes to meet the demand.  Chandler, AZ has been no different.

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program was started in 1985 in Los Angeles CA, specifically to prepare volunteers in the event of a large, catastrophic earthquake. However, the program soon evolved into a means of preparing citizens for any type of disaster, where extra personnel resources may be needed.  Today, the LA CERT Program stands at almost 47,000 trained volunteer responders.

CHANDLER, AZ CERT

The Chandler, AZ CERT Program was the first viable program in the state.  Furthermore, the program has grown to over 400 trained volunteers in its first two years.  The demand for classes has been strong and citizens are being forced to wait for class space to open.  The City of Chandler has been eager to prepare citizens as part of its focus on customer service and public education and the pride it maintains in having both its police and fire departments internationally accredited.

Initially, the Chandler CERT Program began small and has continued to grow.  In the first year, members of CERT and the Fire Department Administration realized that in order to grow further, a governing board needed to be formed.   This group would be charged with helping administrate the program, help in promoting events and aid in training and continuing education.  From this was born the Chandler CERT Council.  Council members meet monthly to discuss the program achievements, what needs to be done and what can be done better.  All of his is done in conjunction with the Fire Department Administration. 

In the last year, the Council has expanded the program’s purpose to aid the fire department with outreach programs, such as car seat safety and drowning prevention.   Furthermore, with the huge growth experienced by our program, the Council elected to divide volunteers into three different groups, based upon feedback from participants.  A large number of people completing the training had noted that they would simply like to be a part of the CERT Program for their own knowledge, rather than responding to large events.  From this feedback came our Three Tier System.

The Three Tier System was designed to allow people to choose the level at which they would like to be involved and the level of training they would undertake.  Historically, each trainee would receive six nights of training and participate as part of a response team to a simulated disaster on night seven.  The Tier System changes how we now operate.

Tier One is for those people who choose to take the classes for their own edification.  This Tier is known as the Personal Awareness Tier.  These participants are trained to help their family survive in event of a disaster where services may be unavailable for up to three days.  Those people selecting this Tier receive six nights of training, just like everyone else in the program.  However, when responders are needed, these trainees manage their families.  These volunteers do not receive a vest or helmet upon program completion.

Tier Two, also known as Neighborhood Responder, are people who will respond to help their neighbors, but do not get called for larger events that may occur in other parts of the city.  These volunteers receive the six nights of training, participate in a simulated disaster on night seven and receive a helmet and vest upon completion.  Furthermore, these volunteers undergo a background investigation as a city volunteer, since they may be needed to help others outside their family.  Additionally, Neighborhood Responders must complete one Continuing Education (CE) Class each year and complete an annual disaster drill, where they participate in a disaster simulation on any night seven drill or the annual drill held by the Chandler Fire Department.  The volunteers are issued new identification cards each year to ensure that each volunteer is current on their education requirements.

Tier Three is the Community Responder Level.  These volunteers undergo the same training and scrutiny of the Neighborhood Responder in the beginning.  However, the CE Class requirements are more involved.  The annual disaster drill requirement is the same, but the Community Responders must complete 3 CE Classes annually.  Additionally, any person wishing to be on the CERT Council must be a Community responder in good standing.  Like the Neighborhood Responders, identification cards are issued each year.

As previously mentioned, those volunteers responding to help others when activated by the fire department undergo a background check.  This is a means by which to protect the city and its citizens.  Furthermore, in an effort to protect the volunteers, workman’s compensation insurance covers these volunteers when they are activated by the fire department.  However, it must be stressed that the volunteers are ONLY covered when activated by the fire department.  This helps to ensure that volunteers are accounted for during activation and to prevent false claims.

The Chandler CERT Program is a perfect example of how a fast-growing program can be managed effectively to find places for everyone wishing to volunteer, protect the city’s interests through background checks and insurance provisions, and provide the city’s fire department with extra manpower when circumstances may necessitate.  However, the long-term key in maintaining an effective program lie within its training and CE program.

CHANDLER’S TRAINING AND CE PROGRAM

Like most CERT Programs, the training is fairly standardized.  However, an understanding of the concepts behind the training setup are critical to making the initial training and subsequent use of the training into a working machine.   As a part of the understanding, each person must understand the role that they play, as well as the roles of the other people involved in a response.  We will examine the role of the professional responder and the volunteer responder in both initial training and CE training.  From this, an analysis of the CE program has been undertaken and several recommendations made in order to better both initial and CE training programs.  These recommendations will strengthen the team spirit and the cooperation between both professional and volunteer responders.

Professional Responders: This category includes the fire fighters and Emergency Medical System (EMS) workers that deal with emergencies everyday.  They are called professional responders because they have the training and repetitive actions of emergencies to react to the same without hesitation. 

One of the keys to the initial CERT Training is to have professional responders complete a “Train the Trainer” course.  This course provides them with key skills to deliver the skills needed for basic disaster response to people who have little or no experience in this field.  The course is designed to guide them through delivering the topics of CERT training without becoming too technical or using jargon that will lose and/or frustrate the trainees.

Professional Responders are then assigned to teach a class or specific topics from the program.  This enables trainees to meet several different members of the fire department and recognize different members.  Furthermore, teaching the classes give the professionals a chance to recognize the skills of the trainees and see what they can expect each volunteer to be able to do when activated.  The professionals also assist with the night seven disaster simulations and can view firsthand how the volunteers perform and where their deficiencies may lie.

The professionals are also integral to the CE Training Program.  It is an excellent idea to hold drills that include both professional and volunteer responders.  The volunteers are trained to provide support for an area of the city for up to three days without city services.  However, in some cases, the volunteers will be working in conjunction with the professional responders.  In these scenarios, the fire department maintains control of the situation and the command structure.  However, this command structure may seem foreign to volunteers and the command of volunteers may be new to the professional responders. 

By holding drills in concert, the professional responders, especially officers, receive experience in managing volunteer responders.  This enables the professionals to view the volunteers in action, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and know their physical and mental weaknesses.  Perhaps the greatest concern is recognizing fatigue, mental and physical, in volunteers.  Professionals are used to working with other professionals and are keen to their limits (see Figure 1).  However, volunteers may fatigue faster or may need rehabilitation or counseling services more frequently or faster than professional responders.  These drills help professionals to recognize the signs in volunteers and have those vital services ready when needed.

VOLUNTEER RESPONDERS : Obviously, Volunteer Responders are the core of the CERT Program.  Without these volunteers, the only resources available in a disaster would be those of the professionals.  However, volunteers must be carefully managed in order to protect the community and to maintain both a customer service focus and a unified command structure.  Without both of these, volunteers can quickly become a part of the problem and hinder execution of the solution to aid the community.  The CERT Program provides a means to be trained for aiding the community and a uniform manner in which these services are delivered.

Volunteer Responders are often people who are compelled to prepare to aid their community in the event of a disaster.  However, they rarely have experience in this field.  The training can be intimidating to these people and discourage them from offering their time.  As a result, the education and CE programs must be focused on providing the trainees with a chance to go through repetition of basic skills so that these skills become second nature when a disaster may occur.  Volunteers need to feel confident when they enter the field.  Annually drilling and CE classes provide exactly this (see figure 2).  Confidence and a thorough knowledge and practice of the command structure enable volunteers to complete their jobs and report back to the command area for effective deployment of resources.  The repetitions of completing tasks helps to prevent a practice known as “freelancing.”  Freelancers are those people who become absorbed in helping every person that they forget to report to command.   Often, people who have received minor injuries are helped before patients that are critically injured.  Confidence in your skills and an ability to focus are critical to ensuring that a disaster response runs smoothly.

Figure 1: This is the type of scene to which most professional responders are accustomed, only professional responders to manage. (Courtesy: Chandler CERT Council, Chandler, AZ)

Figure 2: CERT Members going through a training drill under the watchful eyes of Fire Dept. Trainers (Courtesy: Chandler CERT Council, Chandler, AZ)

Another component of effective training is that of assertiveness.  Volunteers often lose focus when they have little or no experience.  Volunteers must be trained to be assertive, but professional, when rendering care to injured people.  Quite often, family or friends of an injured person will attempt to distract rescuers, when the fact is that the patient is simply a minor injury.  However, the distraction can completely disrupt a volunteer and help to create chaos. 

Incident Command is one of the most difficult jobs to perform, as well as one of the loneliest positions.  Communication, key to effective management in any situation, is the first thing that will breakdown.  The incident commander will be looking for information to be able to deploy resources, but reports will either not come or they do not come quick enough.  In some cases, resources may be deployed, only find that another sector needs immediate help, but the information was delayed too long.  The Chandler CERT has implemented a CE Class to train volunteers in effective incident command leadership, mainly with small teams.  However, these skills can easily be used by an incident commander for any scenario.

The final key component is critical incident stress debriefing (CISD).  Volunteers must return home to their families eventually.  However, they have an abnormal level of adrenaline pumping through their bodies and may need counseling to effectively process the ordeal under which they have been operating.  Professional and Volunteer Responders must both be trained in CISD methods in order to provide one another with the chance to speak their minds and what they have experienced.  Without this component of training, many volunteers would return to their families and have poor mental health for quite some time.  Furthermore, volunteers must maintain their well-being.  When they need a break, they need to take one.  If they need a counselor, they must ask for one.  The most important person to the volunteer should be the volunteer!

RECOMMENDATIONS/RESULTS

Several recommendations have been made regarding the Initial and CE Training Program for the Chandler CERT Program.  They are: 

·        CE must include classes on assertiveness/conflict resolution to help the volunteers gain better confidence.  This will lessen the time to identify critical patients, avoid the problems of freelancing and help the volunteer control the scene.

·        Professional responders need to be included in all aspects of initial and annual CE training in order to give them a better understanding of the abilities of the volunteers, as well give them an opportunity to become familiar with commanding volunteers.

·        Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is an integral part of disaster response and volunteers need to be trained in this area.

·        The well-being of volunteers is extremely important.  Volunteers need to realize their limits and know when to take a break or ask for help, either in rehabilitation or counseling.

·        Professional and Volunteer Responders need to be able to work side-by-side and recognize their roles, as well as the command structure for any incident.  Collaboration will make the response work smoothly.

·        In performing your duties during a response, remember the CERT motto: To do the greatest good for the greatest number!

Figure 3: How It Should Work: Fire and CERT Working Side-By-Side Cooperatively (Courtesy: Chandler CERT Council, Chandler, AZ)

CONCLUSIONS

CERT Programs are here to stay.  The large demand for this training has been welcome in all fifty states, especially since municipal government budgets continue to decline in funds for adding additional personnel.  The number of volunteers continues to increase and provide more help should a large disaster occur and the fire departments need help.

While the addition of volunteers to help is welcome, effective management of any CERT program must be a goal.  A Tiered System helps to provide that effective management, especially since most volunteers will undergo a background check.  Additionally, the Tiered System will enable volunteers to attend training based upon their own interests and learning ability.

Both classes of responders, professional and volunteer, must work alongside one another as often as possible.  This cooperation will lead to better incident command and communication, since both are familiar with one another (see figure 3).  Both groups are here to help the community and cooperation is the key.

Any CERT Program must have a CE program to continue to educate the volunteers and to brush-up on skills needed in case of a disaster.  Without an effective CE program, volunteers become rusty with certain skills and less likely to help when a disaster occurs.  The CE program must be easily adapted to incorporating new skills to teach, as well as receiving feedback from participants about how the program can be made better and what topics the volunteers would like to see taught.

The CERT program is wonderful addition to the many tools of the fire department.  However, like any other tool, it must be maintained and used.  Otherwise, it will rust away and be forgotten.

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