Students learn, practice techniques to gain skills for local certification

In a Situation where a natural disaster has suddenly happened, who will respond? Who will be the first to arrive on scene and help everyone to safety?

In Mr. Lanman’s first and fifth period Law Enforcement classes, the week before Thanksgiving break, students learned about Community Emergency Response Team, which is used in case of a disaster. Lanman’s students have been doing hands on training and watching videos to inform them on the steps to help in a disaster. These are people who are trained to respond immediately while waiting for officials to respond.

“In a situation where someone is stuck under an object and needs rescuing, there should be a team leader, a lever person, a medic and two cribbers,” senior Jose Garcia said.

Each member plays an important role in rescuing and delivering the victim and the surrounding witnesses to safety.

“The team leader is there to watch over the other members and make sure they are safe and doing their job correctly,” Garcia said. “The two cribbers are responsible for propping up the object to move the victim safely. The lever person must exert enough force on the fulcrum to lift the object from on top of the person. Lastly, the medic is there to issue any medical care not only to the victim but to the team members and the community as well, in case anyone has been injured.”

People who are CERT certified can assist in rescuing victims in a number of situations.

“Community Emergency Response Teams work with first responders during an emergency. Most of the time fire and police are not going to have their normal response times to help,” Lanman said. “Citizens being informed and knowing the guidelines to follow helps first responders accomplish more in a shorter period of time and focus on the more serious cases first.”

It is not very common to see a CERT certified person respond to an emergency, which is why it is important to get the word out about this type of training,

To become certified in CERT training, students must complete the online training and the hands-on portion. For more information, visit www.fema.gov and search for the  IS-317 CERT course. This website will elaborate on the testing details and the qualifications.

“I would hope that all of [my students] take the opportunity to get their certification, or at least take the training serious enough to be able to use it if they ever need to,” Lanman said. “The goal is to know what to do, but never have to do it in emergency training.”

In addition to CERT training, the students of Law Enforcement classes have learned the techniques of a search and rescue mission and have practiced applying them in a classroom demonstration in case of a real emergency.