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July 6, 2007 For more information, contact: TRAIN THE TRAINER COURSE OFFERED FOR CITIZEN VOLUNTEERS St. JAMES—The State Emergency Management Management Agency is offering a free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train-the-Trainer course July 27-29 at Meramec Regional Planning Commission, 4 Industrial Drive in St. James. Persons interested in training volunteers who want to help out in emergency situations are encouraged to take advantage of this course. The 20-hour training is offered free of charge. The classes are from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, July 27, and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29. The training will introduce participants to the CERT concept of preparing civilians to proactively organize and train for a disaster. The course covers administrative considerations for implementing the program. It prepares trainers to teach the CERT material by demonstrating instruction methods. CERT trainings cover disaster fire suppression, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology and team organization. Class size is limited to 30 people. Persons attending the train-the-trainer course must have completed the on-line CERT course or successfully completed the 20-hour classroom course. The on-line CERT course takes six to eight hours to complete and can be accessed at www.citizenscorp.gov/cert/training-mat.shtm. Persons interested in signing up for the train-the-trainer class should contact June Simonton at SEMA at 573-526-9121 or by email at june.simonton@sema.dps.mo.gov. Participants can register on line at http://.dps.mo.gov . Deadline for registration is July 17. “We recognize that this training requires a significant investment of time,” said Tammy Snodgrass, MRPC’s environmental programs manager, “and that is because of the importance of the work volunteer trainers will be doing. We hope businesses will support their employees who are interested in attending the training. When a disaster strikes, those needing help may be your own employees, and having people who are able to return to their communities to help organize and train CERT teams better prepares our region for dealing with emergencies,” she added. Snodgrass said that a local community should be prepared to take care of itself for the first 72-hours of a disaster. That’s about how long it takes for state and federal resources to be mobilized. “CERT teams ensure that trained volunteers are available to fill that void and provide the best assistance and care possible when disaster strikes, and we need trainers out in our communities who are willing to provide this important training.” |