Madison County CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Association Meeting (Amateur Radio)

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed and sponsored program to provide ordinary citizens with some basic knowledge on how to assist regular paid First Responders in the event of a large scale disaster. Examples would be a severe earthquake or a multiple tornado outbreak. In those cases, the amount of people that need assistance (rescue from damaged homes, first aid for various wounds, etc.) would greatly overwhelm the capabilities of local Fire Departments, Rescue Squads, and Ambulance Services. CERT trained people can step in when they are in the immediate area of the disaster and assist their neighbors until more highly trained personnel can arrive.

CERT Training is coordinated for FEMA by the various county Emergency Management Agency's (EMA's) and consists of Light Search and Rescue,
Life Saving First Aid interventions, Triage to determine who is the most severely injured and needs to be transported to a hospital first, Fire Safety, and Hazardous Materials - how to recognize and handle them. CERT Training consists of eight separate class sessions followed by a Disaster Exercise where students get to put their knowledge into action.

For more information, check out the web page of the Madison County CERT Association (a 502(c)(3) non-profit organization that aids the
Huntsville/Madison County EMA to provide CERT Training) at www.madisoncountycert.org