Q: What is CERT?
Q: How Does CERT benefit the community?
Q: How do I take CERT training?
Q: Is there a CERT near me?
Q: How do we start a CERT program?
Q: How is the CERT funded?
Q: Who can take the training?
Q: Can someone under age 18 participate?
Q: What if I have concerns about
my age or physical ability?
Q: Why take the CERT training?
Q: How do CERT members maintain their skills?
Q: What if I want to do more than just the basic training?
Q: What about liability?
Q: What is CERT?
A: The Community Emergency
Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster
preparedness for hazards that
may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response
skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team
organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the
training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT
members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace
following an event when professional responders are not immediately
available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support
emergency response agencies by taking a more active role
in emergency preparedness projects in their community. There
is a CERT Overview paper located at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/overview.asp that
gives you a complete description of CERT.
Q: How Does CERT benefit the community?
A: People who go through CERT training have a better understanding
of the potential threats to their home, workplace and community
and can take the right steps to lessen the effects of these
hazards on themselves, their homes or workplace. If a disaster
happens that overwhelms local response capability, CERT members
can apply the training learned in the classroom and during
exercises to give critical support to their family, loved
ones, neighbors or associates in their immediate area until
help arrives. When help does arrive, CERTs provide useful
information to responders and support their efforts, as directed,
at the disaster site. CERT members can also assist with non-emergency
projects that improve the safety of the community. CERTs
have been used to distribute and/or install smoke alarms,
replace smoke alarm batteries in the home of elderly, distribute
disaster education material, provide services at special
events, such as parades, sporting events, concerts and more.
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Q: How do I take CERT training? A: To become a CERT member, you will have to take the CERT
training from a sponsoring agency like an emergency management
agency, fire department or police department in the area
where you live or work. Contact the local emergency manager
where you live or work and ask about the education and
training opportunities available to you. Let this person
know about
your interest in CERT.
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Q: Is there a CERT near me?
A: Over 1100 communities and growing have
listed their program on the CERT web site under the Directory
of CERT
Programs
by State. You can check at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/dir.asp to see if one is in your community. There also is a web
site maintained by Los Angeles City CERT volunteers that
has a listing of teams. See http://www.cert-la.com/index.htm and the box for “Other Team Links”.
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Q: How do we start a CERT program? A: CERT requires a partnership between community
members and local government, emergency management and
response agencies.
The program does take a commitment of time and resources
from all parties. Interested community members should discuss
with local government and emergency management officials
ways to improve their community’s preparedness capability
and how they can be involved. The outcome of these discussions
can range from education programs to an active training program
like CERT that prepares participants to be part of the community’s
response capability following major disasters. It is also
important to develop a plan that covers training, maintenance
and activation standards as well as administrative requirements
like databases and funding. This plan will act as a guide
so that one can evaluate the program and make adjustments.
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Q: How is the CERT funded?
A: Congress has provided
funds through the Citizen Corps program to the States and
Territories. Grants from these
funds may be available to local communities to start CERT
programs. Contact your State Citizen Corps point of contact
listed at http://www.citizencorps.gov/citizenCorps/statepoc.do to learn more about grant possibilities.
Also, there are
a variety of local approaches to funding. Some communities
build costs into their local budget while
others charge participants to attend training to cover
costs for instructors and course materials. In a few communities,
CERT organizations have formed 501 (C) 3 for non-profit
status to allow them to do fundraising and seek corporate
donations.
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Q: Who can take the training? A: Naturals for the training are neighborhood watch, community
organizations, communities of faith, school staff, workplace
employees, scouting organization and other groups that
come together regularly for a common purpose. CERT skills
are useful in disaster and everyday life events
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Q: Can someone under age 18 participate? A: This is a local decision. Someone under 18 should be
with a parent or have permission to attend. Some communities
have reached out specifically to young people. Winter Springs
High School in Florida offers the training to high school
students. You can read an article about this on the CERT
Web at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/cert/supplmnt.asp.
CERT is a great way to address the community service requirements
for high school students and provides students with useful
skills. CERT also fits nicely with training given to Boy
and Girl Scouts and the Civil Air patrol.
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Q: What if I have concerns about my age or physical
ability?
A: There are many jobs within a
CERT for someone who wants to be involved and help. Following
a disaster, CERT members
are needed for documentation, comforting others, logistics,
etc. Non-disaster related team activities may include keeping
databases, developing a website, writing a newsletter,
planning activities, helping with special events and organizing
exercises and activities.
During CERT classroom training, if one has a concern about
doing a skill like lifting, just let the instructor know.
You can learn from watching. We would like everyone who
wants to go through the training to have an opportunity
to participate and learn the skills. CERT educates participants
about local hazards and trains them in skills that are
useful during disaster and life’s everyday emergencies.
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Q: Why take the CERT training?
A: Local government prepares for everyday
emergencies. However, there can be an emergency or disaster
that can
overwhelm the community’s immediate response capability.
While adjacent jurisdictions, State and Federal resources
can activate to help, there may be a delay for them getting
to those who need them. The primary reason for CERT training
is to give people the decision-making, organizational,
and practical skills to offer immediate assistance to family
members, neighbors, and associates while waiting for help.
While people will respond to others in need without the
training, the goal of the CERT program is to help people
do so effectively and efficiently without placing themselves
in unnecessary danger.
A success story about CERTs comes from events during the
wildfires in Florida. The Edgewater CERT helped emergency
management and the fire department personnel by assisting
with evacuation; handling donations; preparing food for
firefighters; and answering the phone while the professionals
were fighting the fire. This is a great example of CERT
members and response personnel working together for the
benefit of the community.
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Q: How do CERT members maintain their skills?
A: CERT members and the local sponsoring agency work together
to maintain team skills and the working partnership. It
is suggested that the sponsor conduct refresher classes
and an annual exercise where all CERT members are invited
to participate. Some response agencies have conducted joint
exercises with CERT teams and operate as they would during
an actual disaster. The last point does bring up a lesson
learned. Besides training CERT members, it is also important
to educate members of response agencies in the community
about CERTs, the skills that team members have learned
during training and the role that they will have during
a major disaster. One way to develop trust between CERT
and responders is by encouraging agency personnel to participate
in classes as instructors and coaches and in activities
with CERT members.
Understanding that CERTs may operate independently following
a disaster. CERTs can practice this independence by taking
some responsibility for their own training. Teams can design
activities and exercises for themselves and with other
teams. Some members can be rescuers, some victims, and
some evaluators. After the event, there can be a social
so that community teams can discuss the exercise and get
to know each other.
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Q: What if I want to do more than just the basic
training?
A: CERT members can increase their
knowledge and capability by attending classes provided
by other community agencies
on animal care, special needs concerns, donation management,
community relations, shelter management, debris removal,
utilities control, advanced first aid, Automatic External
Defibrillator use, CPR skills, and others. The sponsoring
agency should maintain records of this training and call
upon CERT members when these additional skills are needed
in the community
CERT member also can use their skills to help the program
flourish by volunteering to schedule events, produce a newsletter,
perform administrative work, and take leadership positions.
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Q: What about liability?
A: The text of the Volunteer Protection
Act of 1997 is located at http://www.mtn.org/handiham/vpa1997.html.
Also there
is information about State Liability Laws located on the
Citizen Corps website at http://www.citizencorps.gov/councils/liability.shtm.
During training, each sponsoring agency should brief its
CERT members about their responsibilities as a CERT member
and volunteer. Finally, there is a job aid on liability
for you to review at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/new_CERT/t3-0.htm
The CERT material was developed by the Los Angeles City Fire
Department and adopted by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency in 1993. The CERT manual contains basic and straightforward
material that has been accepted by those using it as the
standard for training.
It is important to remember that the best sources of help
in emergencies are professional responders. However, in situations
when they are not immediately available, people will want
to act and help. We have seen this time and again in our
history. CERT training teaches skills that people can use
to safely help while waiting for responders. The alternate
is to do nothing and that is not in our nature.
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