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Geocachers need CERT Training!
Geocachers should be uniquely prepared to be of help in a disaster. Get the training!
Geocachers are active involved technically-savvy self-sufficient individuals who know their neighborhoods better than most. These qualities and others which I see demonstrated repeatedly in geocachers make you perfect candidates to help yourselves and others when disaster strikes. Just owning and knowing how to use a GPS to report specific locations puts you a step ahead of most people.
Volunteer community service opportunities have been a real blessing in my life. I believe that many of you would benefit personally and be of benefit to your community in time of need if you were to get involved in such programs.
Many people's first reaction to that suggestion is "I don't have time" and "I don't have the money" or "I don't know how". Training and preparing for disaster response IS sometimes time-consuming and expensive. On the other hand not training and preparing could well be much more so!
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training is an opportunity for you to get excellent training, gear and preparation for local disaster response FREE.
It will cost you 2.5 hours in class on nine nights. That is a heavy commitment. However, the lifetime of benefit to you, your family and your community cannot be underestimated.
A CERT Backpack 'Go Kit' will be provided free of charge to all who complete the training. See http://www.iprepare.com/100crt1.html for details. Contents of the kit may vary from that depicted.
Those are the thoughts of an impending victim.
In fact disaster can happen anywhere anytime without notice; it does happen to people just like you, and sooner or later it very well may come to you!
As you read this take a moment to look at your watch. Do a bit of make believe... twenty minutes from now everything you own will be gone. You will be totally on your own. Those around you will be depending on you to help them.
Here is a real-life scenario, work your way through it by using your imagination... though most people cannot truly envision themselves in this situation:
A tornado warning was just issued for your county. You ignore it, as you always do, because it's a real hassle to stop what you are doing and seek shelter. Besides, it's a big county, the danger is never in your part of it. You have lived here for thirty years, the sirens go off ten times a year, the whole warning system is a bad joke, it can't be trusted. And you are right in the dramatic high-tension moment where the American Idol contestant will be slammed by the judges. Paula looks like she's drunk, doesn't she? You can't leave the TV and miss that. Besides, other than a vague idea about a bathroom or hallway you don't even know where safe shelter is. Pshaw... those sirens go off all the time anyway, and nothing has ever happened to you. Maybe you turn on the local news to see what the weatherman has to say.
Twenty minutes pass. There, see, another false alarm by those damn weather people. What do they know, trying to scare us like that? They probably get a kick-back from the grocery stores for panicking people into running for bread and milk, right?
You hear a train coming and think "How odd, there are no train tracks around here!". Your house starts to shake. You start to shake. The power fails. A tornado is at this moment cutting a mile-wide five-mile-long swath through the area, centered right where you are now sitting! Police and Fire stations will be damaged. Dozens or even hundreds of homes will be damaged or destroyed. People will be hurt, some gravely. People will be trapped in fallen structures. Roads will be blocked by trees and debris. There will be no power, no landline or cell phone, no internet. Everyone for miles around is in the same sad fix you're in. If you are at work people in your building may be hurt. If you are at home your family members may be hurt. If not then your neighbors will be. Everyone will be terrified, dazed and confused. The vast majority will be helpless. The police, fire department, paramedics and ambulances are of no help... if they still exist undamaged they cannot get to you. Even if they could get to you, you have no way to contact them, and they will be overloaded with responses and can't get to you in time anyway.
Ponder that situation. Admit that it can happen, and that it can happen to you. OK, pretend that it just did happen. What are you going to do in the next few minutes and hours before outside help can arrive to help yourself and those around you?
You hear screaming from your daughter's bedroom. Push your way in and you find that her window blew in... she's bleeding badly. There is no help, no one but you can save her. Do you know how? Even if you know how, is there a properly-equipped emergency supplies kit in your house or car?
Or, your neighbor's house is damaged, it looks like a wall is leaning dangerously. You hear your neighbor, trapped under some debris, calling for help. You are the only one who can help. But, do you have gloves, a hard hat? Can you find them right NOW? Do you know where and how to turn off the gas and electricity to make it safe for you to go in after her? Sure, the power is off now, but what if it comes on while you are in that gas-filled house? You have to shut it off before you can go in. Do you have the tools at hand to do so?
What good are you if you go blindly rushing in and get yourself hurt?
Yes, the risk of that happening to you is statistically slim. Most of us will go through life without ever experiencing a disaster. But we know that it can happen, no matter how unlikely, so we buy insurance.
CERT training is insurance. You will most likely never have to use it in response to a disaster, but you had better have had it when you need it! Like insurance, you know that you need this preparation... trust me, there is zero benefit to being a helpless victim!
Free CERT training will be offered to all who reside or work in Jefferson County beginning Tuesday August 19th and for the next eight Thursday nights at Shades Valley High School Library in Irondale.
Managed nationally by the federal Citizen Corps and locally by your Emergency Management Agency this is training and preparation for all members of the community to prepare them to help themselves and others in those crucial first few hours of a disaster when formal First Responders can't yet get there to help.
CERT is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens will be initially on their own and their actions can make a difference. Through training, citizens can manage utilities and put out small fires; treat the three killers by opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock; provide basic medical aid; search for and rescue victims safely; and organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective.
For more information on CERT see http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about.shtm
For a list of CERT Teams in your area see http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/searc...do?submitByZip or http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/CertI...cert=&state=AL
CERT is a program of Citizen Corps, for more detail see http://www.citizencorps.gov/programs/cert.shtm
Amateur Operator awarded President's Volunteer Service Award for work with CERT: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/04/13/104/
Montgomery County Maryland CERT Ham Radio Net, a model for the CERT Net I propose for central Alabama. http://montgomerycert.org/communications/CERTnet.htm
See discussion and further details on my web site forum, http://w4aga.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=40
Anyone who lives or works in Jefferson County is encouraged to attend.
Contact:
Joan Ratchford
5113 Crowley Drive
Irondale, AL 35210
205-956-2365
ratchmom@bham.rr.com
6:00-9:00 pm
Classes meet at Shades Valley High School Library (on the 4th floor)
FIRST CLASS IS ON TUESDAY, THE REST OF THE CLASSES ARE ON THURSDAYS
Tuesday August 19 – Introduction and Unit 1
Thursday September 18 - Unit 2
Thursday August 28 – Unit 3
Thursday September 4 - Unit 4
Thursday September 25 - Unit 5
Thursday October 2 – Unit 6 and 7
Thursday September 11 - Unit 8 and traffic control
Thursday October 9 –Unit 9 - Drill
Unit 1 – Disaster (Emergency) Preparedness - Addresses hazards to which people are vulnerable in their community. Materials cover actions that participants and their families take before, during, and after a disaster. As the session progresses, the instructor begins to explore an expanded response role for civilians in that they should begin to consider themselves disaster workers. Since they will want to help their family members and neighbors, this training can help them operate in a safe and appropriate manner. The CERT concept and organization are discussed as well as applicable laws governing volunteers in that jurisdiction.
Unit 2 – Fire Safety - Briefly covers fire chemistry, hazardous materials, fire hazards, and fire suppression strategies. However, the thrust of this session is the safe use of fire extinguishers, sizing up the situation, controlling utilities, and extinguishing a small fire.
Unit 3 – Disaster Medical Operations – Part 1 - Participants practice diagnosing and treating airway obstruction, bleeding, and shock by using simple triage and rapid treatment techniques.
Unit 4 - Disaster Medical Operations – Part 2 - Covers evaluating patients by doing a head to toe assessment, establishing a medical treatment area, performing basic first aid, and practicing in a safe and sanitary manner.
Unit 5 – Light Search and Rescue Operations - Participants learn about search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques, and most important, rescuer safety.
Unit 6 - CERT Organization - Addresses CERT organization and management principles and the need for documentation.
Unit 7 - Disaster Psychology and Team Organization - Covers signs and symptoms that might be experienced by the disaster victim and worker.
Unit 8 - Terrorism and CERT – Defines terrorism, the weapons, and cues that help to identify when a terrorist attack has occurred or may be imminent. Irondale adds to this unit traffic control.
Unit 9 - Course Review and Disaster Simulation – Participants review their answers from a take home examination. Finally, they practice the skills that they have learned during the previous six sessions in disaster activity.
Call Joan Ratchford at 956-2365, or email ratchmom@bham.rr.com to register.
To explore further opportunities to serve and support your community contact Ed Manley, [email]TheAlabamaRambler@gmail.com[/email] or call 205-914-6814.
Volunteer community service opportunities have been a real blessing in my life. I believe that many of you would benefit personally and be of benefit to your community in time of need if you were to get involved in such programs.
Many people's first reaction to that suggestion is "I don't have time" and "I don't have the money" or "I don't know how". Training and preparing for disaster response IS sometimes time-consuming and expensive. On the other hand not training and preparing could well be much more so!
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training is an opportunity for you to get excellent training, gear and preparation for local disaster response FREE.
It will cost you 2.5 hours in class on nine nights. That is a heavy commitment. However, the lifetime of benefit to you, your family and your community cannot be underestimated.
A CERT Backpack 'Go Kit' will be provided free of charge to all who complete the training. See http://www.iprepare.com/100crt1.html for details. Contents of the kit may vary from that depicted.
Why would I want to do this, you ask?
We see disasters in the media every day. Floods. Tornadoes. Earthquakes. Fires. But they don't happen to us, right? That can't happen here... can it? This neighborhood was built in 1942, it hasn't happened here in all that time, why should I think it will? My house is surrounded by hills, making my happy little valley immune to tornadoes... I know that because somebody told me that once and I choose to believe it.Those are the thoughts of an impending victim.
In fact disaster can happen anywhere anytime without notice; it does happen to people just like you, and sooner or later it very well may come to you!
As you read this take a moment to look at your watch. Do a bit of make believe... twenty minutes from now everything you own will be gone. You will be totally on your own. Those around you will be depending on you to help them.
Here is a real-life scenario, work your way through it by using your imagination... though most people cannot truly envision themselves in this situation:
A tornado warning was just issued for your county. You ignore it, as you always do, because it's a real hassle to stop what you are doing and seek shelter. Besides, it's a big county, the danger is never in your part of it. You have lived here for thirty years, the sirens go off ten times a year, the whole warning system is a bad joke, it can't be trusted. And you are right in the dramatic high-tension moment where the American Idol contestant will be slammed by the judges. Paula looks like she's drunk, doesn't she? You can't leave the TV and miss that. Besides, other than a vague idea about a bathroom or hallway you don't even know where safe shelter is. Pshaw... those sirens go off all the time anyway, and nothing has ever happened to you. Maybe you turn on the local news to see what the weatherman has to say.
Twenty minutes pass. There, see, another false alarm by those damn weather people. What do they know, trying to scare us like that? They probably get a kick-back from the grocery stores for panicking people into running for bread and milk, right?
You hear a train coming and think "How odd, there are no train tracks around here!". Your house starts to shake. You start to shake. The power fails. A tornado is at this moment cutting a mile-wide five-mile-long swath through the area, centered right where you are now sitting! Police and Fire stations will be damaged. Dozens or even hundreds of homes will be damaged or destroyed. People will be hurt, some gravely. People will be trapped in fallen structures. Roads will be blocked by trees and debris. There will be no power, no landline or cell phone, no internet. Everyone for miles around is in the same sad fix you're in. If you are at work people in your building may be hurt. If you are at home your family members may be hurt. If not then your neighbors will be. Everyone will be terrified, dazed and confused. The vast majority will be helpless. The police, fire department, paramedics and ambulances are of no help... if they still exist undamaged they cannot get to you. Even if they could get to you, you have no way to contact them, and they will be overloaded with responses and can't get to you in time anyway.
Ponder that situation. Admit that it can happen, and that it can happen to you. OK, pretend that it just did happen. What are you going to do in the next few minutes and hours before outside help can arrive to help yourself and those around you?
You hear screaming from your daughter's bedroom. Push your way in and you find that her window blew in... she's bleeding badly. There is no help, no one but you can save her. Do you know how? Even if you know how, is there a properly-equipped emergency supplies kit in your house or car?
Or, your neighbor's house is damaged, it looks like a wall is leaning dangerously. You hear your neighbor, trapped under some debris, calling for help. You are the only one who can help. But, do you have gloves, a hard hat? Can you find them right NOW? Do you know where and how to turn off the gas and electricity to make it safe for you to go in after her? Sure, the power is off now, but what if it comes on while you are in that gas-filled house? You have to shut it off before you can go in. Do you have the tools at hand to do so?
What good are you if you go blindly rushing in and get yourself hurt?
Now - ask yourself this... are you going to be part of the problem or part of the solution?
If you have never been trained and are not prepared that's easy to answer... you are going to be part of the problem. You are in fact just another victim waiting to happen!Yes, the risk of that happening to you is statistically slim. Most of us will go through life without ever experiencing a disaster. But we know that it can happen, no matter how unlikely, so we buy insurance.
CERT training is insurance. You will most likely never have to use it in response to a disaster, but you had better have had it when you need it! Like insurance, you know that you need this preparation... trust me, there is zero benefit to being a helpless victim!
Free CERT training will be offered to all who reside or work in Jefferson County beginning Tuesday August 19th and for the next eight Thursday nights at Shades Valley High School Library in Irondale.
What is CERT?
Community Emergency Response Training is exactly what the name implies.Managed nationally by the federal Citizen Corps and locally by your Emergency Management Agency this is training and preparation for all members of the community to prepare them to help themselves and others in those crucial first few hours of a disaster when formal First Responders can't yet get there to help.
CERT is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens will be initially on their own and their actions can make a difference. Through training, citizens can manage utilities and put out small fires; treat the three killers by opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock; provide basic medical aid; search for and rescue victims safely; and organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective.
For more information on CERT see http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/about.shtm
For a list of CERT Teams in your area see http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/searc...do?submitByZip or http://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/CertI...cert=&state=AL
CERT is a program of Citizen Corps, for more detail see http://www.citizencorps.gov/programs/cert.shtm
Amateur Operator awarded President's Volunteer Service Award for work with CERT: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/04/13/104/
Montgomery County Maryland CERT Ham Radio Net, a model for the CERT Net I propose for central Alabama. http://montgomerycert.org/communications/CERTnet.htm
See discussion and further details on my web site forum, http://w4aga.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=40
Training Schedule for Jefferson County Alabama:
Beginning Tuesday, August 19 and for the following eight Thursdays free CERT training will be conducted in Irondale, Al. at Shades Valley High School.Anyone who lives or works in Jefferson County is encouraged to attend.
Contact:
Joan Ratchford
5113 Crowley Drive
Irondale, AL 35210
205-956-2365
ratchmom@bham.rr.com
Schedule and Curriculum:
August 19 – October 9, 20086:00-9:00 pm
Classes meet at Shades Valley High School Library (on the 4th floor)
FIRST CLASS IS ON TUESDAY, THE REST OF THE CLASSES ARE ON THURSDAYS
Tuesday August 19 – Introduction and Unit 1
Thursday September 18 - Unit 2
Thursday August 28 – Unit 3
Thursday September 4 - Unit 4
Thursday September 25 - Unit 5
Thursday October 2 – Unit 6 and 7
Thursday September 11 - Unit 8 and traffic control
Thursday October 9 –Unit 9 - Drill
Unit 1 – Disaster (Emergency) Preparedness - Addresses hazards to which people are vulnerable in their community. Materials cover actions that participants and their families take before, during, and after a disaster. As the session progresses, the instructor begins to explore an expanded response role for civilians in that they should begin to consider themselves disaster workers. Since they will want to help their family members and neighbors, this training can help them operate in a safe and appropriate manner. The CERT concept and organization are discussed as well as applicable laws governing volunteers in that jurisdiction.
Unit 2 – Fire Safety - Briefly covers fire chemistry, hazardous materials, fire hazards, and fire suppression strategies. However, the thrust of this session is the safe use of fire extinguishers, sizing up the situation, controlling utilities, and extinguishing a small fire.
Unit 3 – Disaster Medical Operations – Part 1 - Participants practice diagnosing and treating airway obstruction, bleeding, and shock by using simple triage and rapid treatment techniques.
Unit 4 - Disaster Medical Operations – Part 2 - Covers evaluating patients by doing a head to toe assessment, establishing a medical treatment area, performing basic first aid, and practicing in a safe and sanitary manner.
Unit 5 – Light Search and Rescue Operations - Participants learn about search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques, and most important, rescuer safety.
Unit 6 - CERT Organization - Addresses CERT organization and management principles and the need for documentation.
Unit 7 - Disaster Psychology and Team Organization - Covers signs and symptoms that might be experienced by the disaster victim and worker.
Unit 8 - Terrorism and CERT – Defines terrorism, the weapons, and cues that help to identify when a terrorist attack has occurred or may be imminent. Irondale adds to this unit traffic control.
Unit 9 - Course Review and Disaster Simulation – Participants review their answers from a take home examination. Finally, they practice the skills that they have learned during the previous six sessions in disaster activity.
Call Joan Ratchford at 956-2365, or email ratchmom@bham.rr.com to register.
To explore further opportunities to serve and support your community contact Ed Manley, [email]TheAlabamaRambler@gmail.com[/email] or call 205-914-6814.
TheAlabamaRambler is Ed Manley, husband to GeoRose (Teresa), father of five wonderful young humans, grandfather of two more, and an avid geocacher.
Now retired after a decade in the US Navy followed by 28 years of owning and operating Knowledge Management Systems, an IT consultancy specializing in Workflow Analysis and Business Process Improvement, Ed now has the time to pursue his hobbies: Fishing, Geocaching and Ham radio... the order of importance changes daily!
He is also W4AGA, an Extra-class Amateur Radio Operator with a passion for serving the public through disaster-relief preparedness and response. Active in the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, Salvation Army Team Emergency Relief Network (SATERN), Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the Zamora Shrine Ham Unit, he can be found on HF daily on 3.965 and on VHF on the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club (BARC) repeater on 146.88. If you have any interest whatsoever in serving and giving back to your community, saving lives and taking part in the wonderful community of amateur radio please visit http://w4aga.com to learn about the many volunteer opportunities.
Ed is the owner and Publisher (sounds high-fallutin, don't it?) of the free online geocaching e-zine The Online Geocacher. He can be contacted via email at mailto:TheAlabamaRambler@gmail.com or by phone at 205-914-6814 from 7 a.m. to Midnight CDT.
73 de W4AGA