Community Emergency Response Team
Volunteers training to become first responders in case of disaster

More than 80 persons are in training to become members of Clark County's Community Emergency Response Teams.

The training is part of the county's plan through the Federal Office of Domestic Preparedness. The federal agency has sent $4,200 to go toward the training and supplies needed for the program.  Alcoa's Gum Spring plant has contributed $7,500 for the program.

Team members will serve as first responders in the county in the event of a disaster, such as a tornado or ice storm. After a disastrous event, CERT members will first check on their neighbors, assessing the situation and treating any minor injuries. In the event of more serious injuries, CERT members will serve as a liaison between their neighbors and emergency personnel.

Team members will be trained in emergency first aid and search and rescue.

The training is being don by Jim Burns, director of Clark County's Office of Emergency Management, who also oversees the project.

The funds from the Alcoa grant will allow the trainees to receive more in-depth medical training. "Alcoa wanted to fund the training to bring CERT members to medical first responder level," Burns said.

Ideally, each neighborhood or community will have its own team. Burns also encouraged industries to have their own teams.  That way, each industry could handle any problems such as chemical spills of fires, internally.

That means members of the county's fire departments, for example, may not have to be called into a facility to extinguish a blaze of perform rescue. "By not needing other members of the community, it lessens the chance of injury of emergency personnel or others," Burns said.

Team members are being trained in fire suppression, emergency first aid, basic search and rescue, and how to make use of available resources.

CERT members are equipped with a backpack containing supplies, such as a flashlight, bandages and the like. CERT members are also trained to use materials on hand, such as using a stick to splinting a broken bone.

"CERT members are there to stabilize an injured person until medical personnel arrive," Burns said.

Those training as CERT members range from volunteer firefighters and current members of OEM to school teachers, a retired nurse and other members of the general public," he said.

Burs said that utilizing personnel from rural fire departments will help ensure that the local communities are taken care of in the event of a disaster. "Once they get everyone in their community seen, then those persons can be sent to other areas if needed," he said.

Burns also receives training time by recruiting firefighters and other emergency personnel as CERT members. "Not everyone needs the practical exercise," he said. Therefore training goes faster.

CERT training takes approximately three classroom sessions and a practical exercise session.  First responder takes 10 sessions or more to complete the 40-hour course.

The training schedule is planned according to the volunteers' timetables and locations.

So far there are three different classes going on, Burns said.

The Monday evening class includes 25 persons. A Tuesday evening class is training 35 persons in the Alpine community, and an additional class in Arkadelphia on Thursday has 27 persons.

More classes are also planned for the Okolona community and the Arkadelphia Human Development Center.

The goal, Burns said, is to get enough CERT members and First Responders trained to take care of everyone in the county.

"If each community has their own CERT team, then they can take care of themselves," he said.

The preceding was published by Donna Hilton Siftings Herald Tuesday February 24, 1984  Vol. 84, No. 39