Central Community College
IN-49: Innovation C

In partnership with the Hall County Emergency Management Director, Jon Rosenlund, Central Community College hosted a 24-hour Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educated volunteers about disaster preparedness for the 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. CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, which allows them to focus on more complex tasks. Through CERT, the capabilities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters is built and enhanced. The trainings were offered in 4 sessions for 6 hours in July and August prior to the Fall semester.
1. CERT Role and Preparedness
2. Fire Safety
3. Disaster Medical Operations (Triage & Treatment)
4. Disaster Medical Operations (First Aid)
5. CERT Organization (Incident Command)
6. Disaster Psychology
7. Simple Search & Rescue
8. Terrorism Awareness
9. Full Scale Exercise

We will also provide CERT kits for free to all completers of the 24-hour training. CERT kits include supplies needed in response to natural disasters which include hard hat, heavy duty gloves, chemical googles, light sticks, safety vest, dust mask, solar blanket, flashlight, survival whistles, rope, barricade tape, megaphone, tarp, first aid kit, poncho, pry bar, etc…

With recent flood events in the Central Community College service area, there was a lack of Certified Emergency responders to many areas. The Hall County Emergency Management Director, Jon Rosenlund, said there is only three in Hall County and they did not have enough coverage during the recent flooding events. There is a critical need for CERT training throughout the Central Community College service area. Through hands on practice and realistic exercises CERT members learned how to safely respond to manmade and natural hazards, help organize basic disaster response, and promote preparedness by hosting and participating in community events.
By offering a free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training that also includes a free CERT kit, we hope that more citizens and staff in the Central Community College service district will become trained in response to future natural disaster events. The training benefited all students and communities by offering trained citizens in response to future events.