City Offers Citizens Emergency Response Training

 Looking for a way to help out your community during a disaster? The City of Baytown, the Baytown/Chambers County Local Emergency Planning Committee,  and the Harris County Office of Emergency Man ag ement have once ag ain teamed up to offer residents their popular Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training.  An information meeting will be held Tuesday, January 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the Baytown Emergency Operations Center (EOC), located behind the Police Department at 205 E. Wye Drive .

 CERT training consists of 8 sessions covering disaster preparedness, fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations, first aid,  search and rescue, disaster psychology, team organization, and terrorism. Classes begin February 2, and are held each Tuesday evening from 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. at the Baytown EOC. Training concludes on March 23 with a disaster simulation exercise in which participants practice skills learned throughout the course. In addition to attending each training session, participants must ag ree to a urine drug screen, and criminal background check, prior to being accepted into the program.

 Local governments across the country continuously prepare for emergencies. However, during a disaster, the number and scope of incidents can overwhelm conventional emergency services.. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens may initially be on their own, and their actions can make a difference.

CERT trains citizens to:

• manage utilities and put out small fires,
• treat common medical killers by opening airways, controlling bleeding, and treating for shock,
• provide basic medical aid,
• search for and rescue victims safely,
• organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective, and
• collect disaster intelligence to support first responder efforts.

 CERT promotes partnering between emergency man ag ement, response ag encies and the community where they serve.  CERT teams are formed and maintained as part of the emergency response capability for their area.

 Baytown CERT is on Facebook and Youtube: http://www.facebook.com/#/profile.php?ref=name&id=100000615518499

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNO6czNfc60

For more information, please contact Baytown Office of Emergency Management at 218-420-5311.