|
Winter 2005 Volume 7 Issue 1 |
|
 |
Community Emergency
Response Teams My experience in CERT is not long, but as I have become more involved, I gathered much information on CERT programs through reading, web sites, training, and preparing to become a team leader. I had a job to keep my team interested in our program, and also to try and get new members to volunteer from our community. Protecting Timber Pines, our community located in Hernando County on the west coast of Florida, is a difficult deployment. Timber Pines (which we call Paradise) has more than 6,000 residents with over 3,000 homes and 34 trained CERT personnel. The old saying still applies, “Risk a lot to save a lot, risk a little to save a little.” The CERT theme is safety first, protect yourself and your family, and then, acting as a team, your neighbors and your community. Do the “greatest good for the greatest number of victims” should be kept in mind. |
|
In Timber Pines, we meet monthly as a team to update the members about upcoming events and discuss our activities should disaster strike. I attend the team leaders’ monthly meetings hosted by the local emergency management agency and the Hernando County CERT Association. This association is for all CERT members in our county and is liaison to emergency management. Our members volunteered for our newly established Crime Watch. This is really an awareness program since we live in an almost crime free community. They keep involved in aspects of community emergency response by participating in events such as the Florida CERT Association Expo hosted by Hernando County, the Hurricane Expo held in our county, and the Safety Expo held at Timber Pines by the Safety Committee, of which I am a member. This provides a lot of interoperability with the county, the state, private agencies, and other volunteers. Additional education has come from attending a Hurricane, Evacuation, and Reentry Seminar presented by emergency management, a Red Cross Vo l u n t e e r Training Seminar, and an 8-hour course on Human Services Training presented by Florida State Community Affairs, a division of emergency management. When CERT classes are scheduled our members can attend to take refreshers on various subjects and participate in a drill for hands-on application. |
|
|
CERT is not like the volunteer fire and emergency s e rvice. Team members are volunteers, but don’t respond every day. Being prepared, trained, and keeping interest is a prime responsibility for emergency management and the team leader. There are many rewards in joining and initiating a CERT in your own community, including meeting new people with different skills and watching a group grow into a proud team showing their regard for the community. For me, it was a boost to get back into a leadership role in both my community and the county. As members of the fire and emergency service, we always have organizations to join with a firm foundation and a legacy of tradition. CERT is young and a support structure is growing throughout the country based on the emphasis on homeland security and the possible threats to our nation. We are akin to the civil defense of World War II. |
|
|
A Drill That Became Real! Timber Pines CERT training recently concluded with a student drill to apply classroom and other hands-on course material. The simulated disaster drill was held at a Hernando County Park, which includes a large area of picnic grounds, recreation areas, a lake, and various buildings. The drill included victims, observers, and our CERT volunteer members. I served as incident commander for the drill that began with a debriefing for the team. The debriefing also ensured that group leaders were aware of their responsibilities, including accountability and the buddy system. They were instructed to take extra precautions to be safe and not let any member become declared dead or injured by a hazard. We proceeded to the drill site, then established and IC position and a portable radio communication procedures. Continuous reports were the mode of operations on the conditions at the drill site, including hazards, victim locations, and rescue needs. As the IC, I deployed fire suppression personnel to extinguish fires and clear the way for safe operations. Search and rescue personnel checked the structures and identified/treated victims. Medical operations set up triage and prepared to stabilize 7-8 victims in various locations throughout the park for transport. Transport was to be handled by available personnel as requested. |
|
 |
|
|
The Drill Became Real A call came into the IC indicating a team member was down with difficulty breathing, possibly having a heart attack. I immediately dispatched a medical operations team member, a retired doctor, to the victim’s location. He was to report the victim’s condition, and provide emergency medical care and stabilization. The condition of the team member was confirmed to the IC as possible heart attack with difficulty breathing. The victim was transported by a park golf cart carry-all to the medical triage safe area where medical operations team members gave necessary care prior to transport. I immediately notified the Emergency Operations Command Unit, who was tracking the drill’s progress, to contact Spring Hill Fire Rescue to respond to the possible heart attack at our park location. Spring Hill Fire Rescue responded with an EMS engine and ambulance that transported the victim to our local hospital, Oak Hill, and later to Bayonet Point Heart Hospital for further care.
|
|
|
The CERT Did Its Job! At the conclusion of the drill we held a debriefing of the operation. The debrief was held by our emergency management personnel, observers, the victims, and myself as the incident commander. There was a discussion of lessons learned and the application of our training. Certificates were awarded and our drill was completed without a declared injury or death due to hazard. We all had concern for our team member. We returned to Timber Pines knowing that we did our job as proven by the response to this critical situation. The team member is back with the fire suppression group and credits his fellow CERT members for saving his life. |
|
| For a printer friendly version in Adobe PDF, click here | |
|
Return to THE CONNECTION |
|
|
|
|
© All rights reserved, North American Emergency Management, 1998 |
|
