Winter 1998 Volume 1 Number 1
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EXPANDING THE ' JEAN ' POOL -
The concept of citizens helping themselves and their neighbors during a significant emotional and physical event is not new, but now it's organized. The Community Emergency |
| Response Team training program is
the vehicle, that emergency response agencies have been able to give the public, to better
prepare them for a catastrophic event that we all hope will never come. The City of
Englewood offered the first CERT program in Colorado. It has been in place since 1994, and
the number and diversity of the participants has been astounding Like most cities, our firefighters had been teaching classes at the local high school for years, particularly to the health science classes. Fire extinguishers, basic first aid, safe lifting and carrying techniques were a regular part of the public education program. When the CERT program began training was offered to the school's teachers, as a group, with the assumption that they could function as a team in the event of an incident in or near their school Unfortunately, there was little interest in that program. However, the lead instructor for the Health Occupation Services program became interested and CERT training was offered to the Arapahoe / Douglas (Counties) Area Vocational School (ADAVS) starting in the fall of 1994. Since then, over two hundred high school juniors and seniors have completed the course. The program is identical to the citizen training program with few exceptions. Since the students reside in a two county-wide area where, in most cases, there is not an active CERT team, the opportunity for them to function as part of an organized team is limited. Therefore the focus for their training is less team oriented and more life skills oriented. We stress to the students that the skills they learn in the |
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course can help them in any situation and anywhere they go, not just in a
major disaster The other difference is the student involvement in the mock disaster drill.
The students are utilized as victims for the citizen team drill. This allows them to
experience the effects of care and treatment and experience the sights and sounds of an
incident from a victim's perspective. The reaction to the program from the students has |
| been phenomenal. It has one of the best attendance records of
all classes offered in the school and every CERT class offered has been filled to
capacity. The CERT program has been incorporated into the Occupational Health curriculum
at ADAVS and has spawned a Fire Service Internship Program, allowing students seeking a
career in the fire service to attend training sessions and ride-alongs at the Fire
Department. The students receive a grade for both programs and attendance is required to
pass. This partnership has been mutually beneficial to the city, it's citizens and the students. It has built a bridge between the providers of today and the providers of the future, as well as ensuring that when a major disaster or a minor emergency strikes, the chances of having a trained responder ready to help are better than ever...The Connection has been made. |
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