Are you concerned about how your neighborhood is recovering from floods, storms, or other challenges? Realistically, neighbors are often the first people on the scene after an incident, not the police or fire fighters. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program was developed to train volunteers to help in these situations. It is amazing how much good we can do, with just a little bit of planning and forethought. Is it possible to build a team in your neighborhood by getting a group of neighbors together to be CERT-trained volunteers?
Start Small, with Simple Online Class
There is a FREE online course to help get you started. This self-paced class is for everyone–no previous medical or emergency response experience or education is needed. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates people about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. This training might come in handy after the next power outage, flood, hailstorm, or other unexpected emergency in your corner of the city. Find the course entitled “Online Training CERT 3.0” at the University of Utah site: https://cert.hazready.com/CourseCatalog?friendlyId=DP000072
The People’s Response Network (PRN) has a group of members taking the CERT course right now, and meeting weekly to share what we are learning. PRN wants YOU to join this effort to get trained in CERT so you are ready to support your neighborhood in an emergency. Later, PRN plans to further strengthen training with additional in-person training. The goal would be to help us all build out a team in our own neighborhoods.
Why CERT?
The CERT training is meant to train, certify and prepare adult and youth teams in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, parks, public transport & spaces, and places of worship for all types of disasters. We want to go beyond what an individual can achieve by working collectively to get emergency equipment and supplies together. Another useful planning element would be to decide on and prepare safe nearby locations for hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, floods, heatwaves, polar vortices, earthquakes & more community self-defense. Ultimately, we could expand this effort by training some of our own to be trainers themselves, and greatly increase the number of trained volunteers and teams across the city. Read more about CERT here: https://medicine.utah.edu/occupational-environmental-health/research/outreach/cert
Growing Need for Disaster Prep
Recent years have illustrated how vulnerable our neighborhoods are to disasters. There is a lack of public planning, prevention, and resources, and social safety nets have frayed. Families and systems are barely holding together and teetering on the edge of dissolution. Weather disasters are also increasing due to climate change. FEMA was never enough, and certainly isn’t now. Our medical system is under strain. It’s not a bad idea to have local folks who can plan ahead and be prepared to take care of their neighbors. CERT is a idea ready for widespread adoption.
The University of Utah offers a FREE online CERT class, developed to provide the FEMA standardized 2019 curriculum to learners across the United States, meeting the lecture portion of the CERT training requirements. Once completed, you just follow up with your local CERT Coordinator to complete the hands-on practical portion and receive your full CERT credentials.To join PRN’s group effort on this, email prncoalition@gmail.com your proof of CERT course registration. Register for the course entitled “Online Training CERT 3.0” at the University of Utah site: https://cert.hazready.com/CourseCatalog?friendlyId=DP000072
We have great power to improve our neighborhoods. Join our CERT effort, and talk to your neighbors about doing the same!