Thursday evening I attended a "Meet the Board" gathering at the Riverview Club. The forum was presented by Kevin Dunne, President of the St. Augustine Shores Civic Advocate. It was a great opportunity to meet the Board Members of the Service Corp in an informal setting.
One of the things that became very noticeable to me was the age demographic of our neighbors. I had a discussion with a couple of the Service Corp Board members in regards to "What would we do in the event of an emergency? What plans have been made to identify any special needs in the community?" Astonishingly, there is no plan. I would have thought that the devastation and casualties caused in Lousiana by Hurricane Katrina and the damage and death toll during Hurricane Andrew in South Florida would have taught us something! What have folks thought that rising insurance rates and cancelled policies were the result of?
Well, as the saying goes, there is no sense dwelling on the past. Friday morning I contacted the state and the county emergency responders and asked what the process would be to identify any special needs in our community and have it in some sort of a county or state database in case of an emergency. During my conversations, I was informed of a training program called "CERT" (Community Emergency Response Teams). This is a training and certification program funded by the federal government with grants presented to the state based on availability. I have taken the liberty of starting the process.
Here is a quick outline of the program.
Session I, DISASTER 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.
Session II, DISASTER FIRE SUPPRESSION: 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.
Session III, DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS PART I: Participants practice diagnosing and treating airway obstruction, bleeding, and shock by using simple triage and rapid treatment techniques.
Session IV, DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS, PART II: 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.
Session V, LIGHT SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS: Participants learn about search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques, and most important, rescuer safety.
Session VI, DISASTER PSYCHOLOGY AND TEAM ORGANIZATION: Covers signs and symptoms that might be experienced by the disaster victim and worker. It addresses CERT organization and management principles and the need for documentation.
Session VII, 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.
Training will only commence if we have a minimum of 20 residents willing to make the commitment. Due to this requirement, Kevin Dunne and I will be preparing a presentation to The St. Augustine Shores Service Corp. in order to gain a larger pool of participants. Informal discussion has already begun. I will have information next week in regards to how this will proceed.
I would recommend that we have at least 3 or 4 members from our Conquistador Condo Community on board. I would like to see sector captains from all of the Shore's Communities participate. I will keep you posted as this develops. Here is more information about CERT.
Keith Goldstein
Publisher