CERT Class Topics

• DISASTER AWARENESS: Introduction to disasters specific to your community and the impact it could have on our county. Materials cover actions that participants and their families take before, during, and after a disaster.
• DISASTER FIRE SUPPRESSION: Briefly covers fire chemistry, hazardous materials, fire hazards, and fire suppression strategies. However, the thrust of this session is the safe use of fire extinguishers, sizing up the situation, controlling utilities, and extinguishing a small fire.
• DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS PART I: Participants practice diagnosing and treating life-threatening injuries by using simple triage and rapid treatment techniques.
• DISASTER MEDICAL OPERATIONS, PART II: Participants evaluate patients using a head-to-toe assessment and perform basic first aid in a safe, sanitary manner.
• LIGHT SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS: Participants learn about search and rescue planning, size-up, search techniques, rescue techniques, and most importantly, rescuer safety.
• DISASTER PSYCHOLOGY: Participants learn to recognize post-disaster emotions that might be experienced by the disaster victim and the worker.
• TERRORISM: Participants are given a brief overview of terrorism weapons and targets in their area.
• TEAM ORGANIZATION & COURSE REVIEW: Management principles, CERT team organization, and the need for accurate documentation are addressed.
• DISASTER SIMULATION: CERT members practice what they have learned throughout the course as they participate in a disaster drill realistic to their community.

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