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.