WHAT IS CERT?

Local government prepares for everyday emergencies. However, during a disaster, the number and scope of incidents can overwhelm conventional emergency services. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is an all-risk, all-hazard training. This valuable course is designed to help you protect yourself, your family, your neighbors and your neighborhood in an emergency situation.

CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens may initially be on their own and their actions can make a difference. While people will respond to others in need without the training, one goal of the CERT program is to help them do so effectively and efficiently without placing themselves in unnecessary danger. In the CERT training, citizens 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 new volunteers to be more effective in a disaster
* Collect disaster intelligence to support first responder efforts

WHY DO THE CERT TRAINING?

Well, it's like paying for car insurance. You might never need either; you'd hope not to. But if needed, having the CERT training means that you're as ready as you can be to help yourself, your family and your neighborhood.

HOW DO I JOIN?

To join a current CERT team in your neighborhood, contact Capt. Mike Conrad at 831-685-6690, or email mikec@aptosfire.com.  You can also contact our Public Education coordinator DFM Carol Wallace at the number above, or at carolw@aptosfire.com. If your area doesn't have a CERT team yet, you can download our brochure and see if your neighbors are interested in forming a CERT team (meetings with interested neighbors and our coordinating Captain can be arranged as time allows).