Mayhem ensued at an “emergency” in Building Q last week. Students acting as victims filled the halls for a training exercise for the final day of Community Emergency Response Teams, CERT, training. A group of faculty and staff members along with some administrators and staff from the Head Start Center spent two and half days training for an emergency that everyone hopes never comes. The false emergency involved a tornado that caused an explosion. There were a variety of victims with injuries ranging from broken bones to severe burns and head injuries. The purpose of the exercise was to have the group walk through a real emergency scenario and put their training to use. The CERT Program teaches people disaster preparedness and how to handle the hazards that may impact their community or workplace. The training gives them basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations. The goal of the training is to prepare the CERT members to assist others in their neighborhood or workplace when professional responders are not immediately available to help. People who go through CERT training have a better understanding of the potential threats to their home, workplace and community and can take the right steps to lessen the effects of these hazards.
These employees took this first set of training courses for CERT.
