Friday, March 29, 2024

CERT Class Learns About Disaster Medical Operations

The 2013 Southlake CERT Class reached the halfway point on Wednesday night as participants finished up the Disaster Medical Operations module. As part of the module, CERT members participated in an exercise  where they learned how to set up a disaster medical treatment area and conduct triage to assess and treat the needs of individuals that may be injured due to a disaster. These valuable skills make CERT members an important asset of our community, especially when disaster strikes

The eight-week CERT program develops a ready force of organized and trained volunteer disaster workers that operate at the neighborhood level. Experience has shown that in a disaster setting, ordinary citizens make over 80% of successful rescues as they respond to the emergency in their community. However, many untrained volunteer rescuers may actually cause harm or become injured in the process.

During the  class, participants learn about fire safety and utility controls, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster preparedness, disaster psychology, CERT organization and terrorism. The class wraps up on February 27, 2013. For more information about CERT, visit the City of Southlake CERT page.