Charleston County News Release

MEDIA CONTACT

Name:   Jennie Davis, Charleston County Public Information Officer

Phone: (843) 958-4012

Email:   jdavis@charlestoncounty.org

Release Number: 3050

Date: September 15, 2009

See photo: http://www.charlestoncounty.org/newsimages/cert.htm

Citizens Graduate from Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training, Bringing Total to 500 in the Lowcountry

          Students spent eight weeks learning how to serve their community in a disaster

Charleston County Government announces that the Charleston County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program recently graduated 20 students.

Under instruction from the Charleston County Emergency Preparedness Division, the program took residents who had signed up for the course through eight weeks of training, which ended with a simulated disaster exercise.

The goal of CERT is to better prepare the community. The students in the program learned how to identify the types of disasters and hazards that are most likely to affect their homes and communities in the Lowcountry.

Including the 20 recent graduates of the course, there are currently 500 CERT members in the Tri-county area. In the CERT training, citizens are trained and learn to:

• Manage utilities and put out small fires

• Treat the three 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

• Collect disaster intelligence to support official first responders

The graduates of the most recent CERT class are as follows:

• Michael Bonham of Charleston

• Rosemary Bonham of Charleston

• Karen Clark of North Charleston

• Andrew Collins of Mount Pleasant

• Andrea Coulter of Johns Island

• Sheila Harris of North Charleston

• Linda Haynes of North Charleston

• Peter Kinslow of Mount Pleasant

• Scott Koenig of Johns Island

• Salvatore Liveri of Mount Pleasant

• Risa Matteo of Ladson

• Anna Marie Middleton of Yonges Island

• Brandon Shaw of Johns Island

• Marc Shelton of Summerville

• Michael Spooner of Charleston

• Anna Stephens of North Charleston

• Jeane Sullivan of Charleston

• Ronald Tibbetts of Mount Pleasant

• Rosirma Wright of North Charleston

• Joseph Yantorn of Charleston

The local program is based on the FEMA CERT national curriculum, where citizens are trained to assist in the event of an emergency or natural disaster and to be prepared to assist their families and emergency services.

Nationally, CERT is a FEMA, Citizens Corps program that trains volunteer citizens across the nation to be first responders in their neighborhoods and to assist emergency agencies in the event of man-made or natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and terrorist attacks.

Training in the Tri-county area is provided by the Charleston County Emergency Preparedness Division. Training is free and is available for citizens 18 years and older. Lowcountry CERT is a non-profit organization that raises funds to equip, train and sustain teams in the Tri-county area.

For more information or to learn more about Lowcountry CERT and how to become a member, visit www.lcert.org, call (843) 202-7405 or e-mail Jim Tarter at jtarter@charlestoncounty.org.

Visit the Charleston County Web site at www.charlestoncounty.org for news, services and up-to-date information relating to Charleston County Government.