Ambulance District to offer CERT course

The Vernon County Ambulance District will offer a free Community Emergency Response Team training course to the community, beginning Tuesday. The course will be conducted at the ambulance base at 515 E. Walnut in Nevada.

The class, which will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through April 18, is free and open to the public, and all materials will be provided.

VCAD Director James McKenzie hopes people will take advantage of the opportunity to be better prepared for disasters that may strike the city.

"It's not a matter of if" he said, "but when" something will happen.

McKenzie said response to the course has been good so far and "people are waking up" to the idea that help may not be quick to come during a major disaster. CERT training can help any resident prepare for that scenario.

The course often covers disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, two sections of disaster medical operations, light search and rescue operations and disaster psychology and team organization. There will be a course review and disaster simulation at the end of the course. The courses are often customized to fit the likely scenarios possible in a community.

One of the big things the course teaches, according to McKenzie, is self reliance. Team members are taught to take care not to become a victim. Then they can be of help to someone else. Simple things like turning off your gas at the meter, or being able to identify a downed telephone line from a power line can make a difference.

Team members can help their immediate neighbors and let the professional responders concentrate their efforts where they are most needed. It may be that a road is blocked off by downed limbs. CERT members can clear the road which allows the professionals time to help people instead of clearing the road.

McKenzie said this class will benefit several different local agencies. Everyone from the city police to the Red Cross could see a change in how a disaster is handled. Utility companies will benefit as well. By having someone to accurately identify downed lines repair crews will be able to repair and not search for downed lines. McKenzie said gas and electric company personnel will be on hand for part of the training course.

McKenzie said he hopes the course will get people involved. There is no obligation to belong to anything or do anything after the course is completed, but McKenzie said he hopes people do it for themselves as well as for the good of the community. The main goal is to help people avoid becoming a victim during a disaster.

This is the second time the course has been offered. The first attempt, about a year ago, did not get enough participants for the class to make.

The CERT concept was developed by the Los Angeles, Calif., Fire Department in the mid 1980s and its popularity has spread across the country and abroad. It is taught by professional trainers and endorsed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For more information or to register for the course call VCAD at 417-667-5709. More information also is available at www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams.