Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
Stearns County Emergency Management is proud to offer one of the five Citizen Corps programs to local residents: Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
CERT training empowers citizens to help their families, neighborhoods and communities in times of disasters and emergencies. CERT Members join with law enforcement, firefighters and medical personnel in improving the safety and security of the entire community.
Through federal, state and local government fundng, Community Emergency Response Teams were first formed in Stearns and Benton County in 2003. Since then, over 500 residents have been trained in key disaster response skills.
What is CERT?
What do CERT members do?
How can I get involved?
Where can I get more information on CERT?
CERT is a training program for community members, providing information about local hazards and appropriate actions to take to prepare for and respond to when emergencies happen.
An eight-session, 20-hour training course teaches CERT Members the basics of disaster response. Training emphasizes team organization, decision making skills, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. The curriculum covers:
- Disaster preparedness
- Disaster fire suppression
- Disaster medical operations - triage and treatment
- Light search and rescue
- Disaster psychology and team organization
- Terrorism
In the event of a disaster, CERT members should first attend to the needs of their own family and immediate neighbors. CERT members may be notified of an official activation via a local radio station or by telephone.
Aside from activations during disasters, CERT Members also serve their community and use their skills at events and exercises throughout the year. Locally, CERT Members have volunteered their time at disaster exercises, searches for missing persons, and additional training. In the fall of 2004, several Stearns and Benton County CERT Members worked in Florida and other hurricane-stricken states as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response - the largest mobilization of disaster workers in the history of the United States.
If you are eighteen years of age or better and in good physical condition, you are eligible to take CERT training classes and become a CERT Member. Classes are held throughout the year at sites throughout Stearns and Benton Counties.
The CERT program is administered by the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) on behalf of Stearns and Benton County.
For more information and to register for upcoming classes, contact RSVP:
Contact: Lisa Braun, Director
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Whitney Center
1529 Northway Drive
St. Cloud, MN 56303
Phone: (320) 255-7295
E-mail: lisa.braun@ci.stcloud.mn.us
For More Information:
Citizen Corps