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	CERT IN ACTION Sam Isenberger FEMA's Emergency Management Institute Neighborhood by neighborhood; community by community; and State by State; response agencies and the people they serve are joining together in preparing for hazards that they face. Communities in 18 States have accepted the responsibility of integrating civilian teams into their response capability for disasters in order to save lives and protect property.
I have the good fortune to hear reports from CERT program managers around the country about CERT classes and graduates. Some of the most rewarding stories are about people who are very thankful for the training and the response personnel who taught them. Participants leave training saying they know more about the hazards around them and are better prepared to help themselves and others. They have become partners with the agency. Also I hear examples of people who have had a chance to apply their CERT skills in daily life. In Washington, a woman put out a stove fire in another person's apartment before it could spread. In Missouri, scouts treated an accident victim until help arrived and in another situation a man opened the airway of an unconscious person. In Idaho, CERT graduates treated a victim of a propane tank explosion and transported the person to the hospital. In Florida, a man pulled a young person from a canal and got the person breathing and in Edgewater, CERTs supported their fire department personnel by helping at the stations during the 1998 wild fires. In Oregon, a woman worked with victims following a traffic accident until medical services arrived. In Utah, CERT teams helped search for a missing people. In California, after seeing a small plane go down CERT graduates went to help others. Fortunately no one was hurt.
	There are probably more examples of CERT graduates working to help others that I have not heard. However, thank goodness for people who are willing to get involved, help, and make a difference. I also know that of communities that have trained CERT members to accurately map locations of hydrants and assess the condition of bridges.
If you ever have any good news to share about CERT graduates applying their skills or doing community projects, drop me a line at sam.isenberger@fema.gov. I would like to include these examples in the next "Connection". Recently, we added the CERT Cribbing video to our Internet site at http://www.encoding.com/fema/videoondemand.html. Take a look at it. Soon, I hope to add a video from our CERT Train-the Trainer on treating airway blockage, bleeding and shock. Finally, please listed your civilian training program on our CERT Directory by State, send in the information by using the form at the bottom of http://www.fema.gov/emi/cert/dir.htm. There are many communities that I hope list their programs. This listing demonstrates how the concept of civilian training is growing. I look forward to hearing from you.

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