Monday evening John Smith and Pam Beasley, Allen County’s emergency management di-rector, told a dozen people how to establish a local community emergency response team (CERT). Once up and running, members would help professional emergency responders, such as law enforcement officers, firefighters and medical personnel, to deal with a disaster or some other extraordinary event.
The volunteers would respond when summoned and spend a good share of their time helping organize and direct volunteers without prior training who came to help. The team would be a very important asset if a tornado or flood, such as 2007’s, or something as devastating as a chemical tanker wrecking and rupturing in town oc-curred.
Beasley is eager to get the initial CERT on track. The process will require about two months of weekly training sessions, including at some point classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Later, Beasley said she would like to train volunteers and organize teams in schools, businesses and industries, where they would be on hand to respond at a mo-ment’s notice.
Just one thing stands in the way: enough volunteers.
That’s where folks throughout the area enter the equation.
There’s every reason to think we’ve an abundance of people who are willing to volunteer to help out their friends and neighbors. Always has been, always will be.
All you have to do is commit a couple of hours a week for training and then be willing to help out when something requiring emergency response happens and the bell rings to call out CERT members.
All of those who attended the Monday meeting indicated an interest. Others may sign on by calling Beasley at the county emergency management office, 365-1477, or the sheriff’s office, 365-1400, where your name will be passed along.
Training will start later this month. Today would be none too soon to volunteer.
— Bob Johnson
