Volunteers trained for emergencies

In the event of a large-scale disaster --such as a flood, tornado or terrorist attack -- it could take a long time for emergency response professionals to reach every person in need, officials from the Monroe County Citizen Corps said last weekend. So they are training volunteers to help.\nRepresentatives from the Citizen Corps attended a "train-the-trainer" workshop last weekend at the Van Buren Township Fire Department. They hope to begin teaching the 20-hour Community Emergency Response Team courses to community volunteers in the next few months. Participants in the training will learn how to turn off the natural gas in their homes, use fire extinguishers and perform light search and rescue operations. They also will be able to provide first aid and triage for victims. They won't replace emergency response professionals, but they can help.\n"No agency has the manpower to handle everything," said Ed Vande Sande, director of emergency services at the county's American Red Cross. Vande Sande served on the original Citizen Corps board because he thought programs such as CERT could improve emergency response in the county.\nVande Sande said that trained CERT volunteers could have helped with last September's tornado in Ellettsville, significantly reducing the 500 local untrained volunteers used by the Red Cross. \n"We were doing an awful lot of on-the-spot, instantaneous training," Vande Sande said. "And that's just not efficient." \nCERT teams don't require any official coordination once they're trained, according to the CERT participant manual. When a disaster occurs, they are taught to take care of their own needs first. Then, they meet at an agreed-upon spot and begin securing their neighborhoods. \nThe CERT program is a recent initiative by the Bush administration through the Department of Homeland Security. The department recently granted $19 million to state and local governments for CERT training this year. Some $378,400 of that went to Indiana's State Emergency Management Agency, and SEMA in turn gave nearly $2,800 to Monroe County. SEMA sponsored last weekend's training-the first of its kind in the state. \nSEMA also recently handed down a $6,000 federal grant to the Citizen Corps, the volunteer organization that administers local programs funded by the Department of Homeland Security, Citizen Corps Chairman Mark Brostoff said. \nBrostoff presented an update on the activities of the Citizen Corps to the Monroe County Council on Friday. He told council members that the Citizen Corps will use the federal grant money to launch a Web site, perform outreach and training and purchase equipment for trained volunteers. SEMA is selling fully equipped backpacks -- including the signature green vests and helmets, flashlights, crowbars and emergency medical supplies -- to the counties for about $100 each. Each volunteer gets a backpack to take home or to work.\nEvansville Fire Department Chief of Support Services Cliff Weaver has been organizing teams in Evansville since 2001, before the Bush administration made it a federal initiative. He participated in a CERT workshop at the National Fire Academy eight years ago, he said, and thought it was right for Evansville. \n"Since we have tornados, and Evansville is on the New Madrid Fault, and it just seems like we've had a lot of close calls," he said, "we thought, well, maybe it's time to start training some people to take care of their neighborhoods."\nNow Evansville has teams of 14 to 20 trained volunteers in six neighborhoods. Weaver decided to work with established neighborhood associations because they were already well organized.\nCitizen Corps officials are still unsure how they are going to organize the program in Monroe County. Ken Long, IU assistant director of risk management, participated in the training last weekend. He said he is still evaluating whether it will fit in with the University's comprehensive emergency management plan. Right now, faculty and staff wardens in every building are trained to help with evacuations and to administer first aid and CPR. Long is looking towards a future where these members of the administration, along with some of the student body, may receive CERT training.\n"It's just a bunch of ideas bouncing around in my head," he said. \nOn the county level, the Citizen Corps board is planning a recruitment kick-off at the county fair in July, Long said. Like Evansville officials, they are hoping to work with neighborhood associations, churches, businesses and schools, he said. \nThe CERT program is a good idea, he said, because it prevents a situation where many people try to help in a disaster whether they have training or not. Sometimes, he said, untrained helpers make the problem worse by injuring themselves or others. Not only does CERT training teach people to help, Long said, it teaches them their limitations.\n"You can mean well and end up hurting someone," he said.\nTrainers emphasized safety this weekend by teaching the "CERT mantra." Volunteers must repeat the mantra several times during the training and accompany it with large gestures to reinforce the concepts.\n"I won't do anything in CERT without my buddy. My buddy and I won't do anything without a good size up. We won't do anything in CERT without our helmet, goggles, mask, gloves and boots," Long said.\nFederal Emergency Management Agency officials hope to train 400,000 citizens in the next two years through the CERT program. Officials hope that volunteers' green vests and helmets -- which are being used all over the country -- will soon become well known.\n"The more people who are trained in essence means the community is better prepared," Long said. "What this boils down to truthfully is homeland security at the local level"