Emergency Response Teams: Why Businesses and Schools Need Them

By Wayne Bennett, President of Survival Skills Company

In a large scale disaster, Emergency Services will be delayed or unavailable. The employees at your site will become "spontaneous responders". When the employees are confronted with the realities of a disaster such as an earthquake, they will be forced to make any decisions very quickly. Emergency Response training will give them the knowledge and the skills to make the right decisions.

The Emergency Response Teams in businesses and schools should receive training in the areas of Light Search and Rescue, Triage, Disaster First Aid, Fire and Utility Control. The early intervention of trained employees will not only save lives but reduce property losses in both large and small scale emergencies.

Light Search and Rescue training will enable the Response Team member to perform an organized search effort to safely remove untrapped and trapped victims without causing harm to themselves or the victim.

Triage and Disaster First Aid techniques will allow the rescuers to manage an overwhelming number of injured victims by evaluating and prioritizing their treatment as the professionals do in mass casualty incidents.

All team members should learn to use a fire extinguisher. All fires start small. With extinguishers already in place a trained employee could be a real solution to a serious problem.The failure to control utilities quickly following a disaster could have a tragic effect on the outcome of your emergency.

The key to success will be having a cross section of your organization equipped and trained to handle and manage the chaos that awaits them. They will be the backbone of the initial rescue effort and begin the process of recovery.

Jackson State Community College CERT Team II

Jackson State Community College in Jackson, TN is fielding their second CERT team. This CERT Team is a continuation of the JSCC CERT program to train as many faculty and staff as possible to repond to an emergency or disaster on campus.

The first CERT Team was trained in August of 2008. With this new Team, Jackson State Community College will have 30+ trained faculty and staff CERT members.

JSCC CERT Program Director, Leah Gray, has done an outstanding job of recruiting and traing these CERT Teams. Instructors for this class included:

Leah Gray - JSCC; James Woulfe - Madsion Co. Health Department; Alan Pitmann - JSCC; Gina Pearson - JSCC; George Conner - Jackson Fire Department; Alan Castleman - Madison Co. Sherrif's Department and Thomas Reeves - Jackson Fire Department.

This Team will complete their training sometime in mid-April.

Congratualtions to all participants of the CERT program. Your dedication and efforts make your workplace and community a much safer place.

G. Michael Winslow, CERT Coordinator
Jackson-Madison Co. EMA
TN Homeland Security - District 10

Check Your Emergency Preparedness Kits

Currently the United States is in the midst of one of the largest food recalls in American history. As Americans dig through their cabinets and refrigerators to remove potentially contaminated food associated with the recent peanut recall, we would like to also remind citizens to open and check their Emergency Preparedness Kits to remove any potentially harmful items from these also.

Because peanut products are often recommended as staples in Emergency Preparedness Kits due to their long shell life and because they are a good source of protein, we encourage all kit owners to look at their kits to ensure food products are not on the peanut recall list. Please keep in mind that the peanut product recall extends beyond peanut-flavored products. The following are some examples of foods also included in the recall that may contain peanuts:

Granola
Snack bars
Crackers
Cereal
Trail Mix
Cookies
Noodles
Dog treats

A full list of recalled peanut products and what individuals should do with recalled items can be found on the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm.

In addition to checking for peanut-related items, please be sure to check for other items in your kit that may have expired, including medications, food and pet food, water, and other recalled items. The U.S. government provides information on unsafe, hazardous, or defective products ranging from consumer products, food, medicine, and cosmetics at www.recalls.gov.

Ensuring family and neighbors are prepared is an essential step in helping communities during and after an emergency. Families should have an Emergency Preparedness Kit in all locations that are frequented often, including homes, offices, schools, cars and day care facilities. These kits should hold a variety of essential items that are needed during a disaster, such as a flashlight, radio, cash, clothing, protective equipment, medicines, and of course food and water. For a complete list of Emergency Preparedness Kit recommended items, please visit http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/supplykit.shtm.

Citizen Corps Councils and Partners: Councils and partners should remind their communities about the importance of maintaining and constructing an Emergency Preparedness Kit and consider hosting public preparedness training sessions to ensure that information about kits is reaching the community. In addition, Councils and partners should consider adding a link to the FDA Web sites along with information on the recall on peanut products to any Web pages or documents that refer to community preparedness or Emergency Preparedness Kit preparation.