The First Aid section was the most disappointing for me (and some other folks in the class). It also was presented using an AHA curriculum. Maybe my military training is not what it should be compared to, but we did not cover items like burns or pressure points. The use of pressure on the bleeding wound was a major point of emphasis. Minimal time was spent on splints. We were told the local medical community wanted our training to be minimal. It would interesting to see what the local Red Cross curriculum is (I may search for a local class to compare).
Triage was covered pretty well. The manual would have helped, but I think they did a good job here. To me this is a challenging area. Determining whether to move on from a seriously injured individual to one that may be "saved". Also, our local medical community will not allow CERT to determine that someone is dead. So we cannot use the "black" tag. If we come across someone who we believe is "dead" we tag them with a double "red" tag. The medical assessment info is more extensive in the manual. We did not cover the Medical Treatment Areas outlined in the manual.
Light search and rescue was covered pretty well. We did not cover leveraging and cribbing at all. We were basically told we would net be involved in those operations (at least not on our own).
The psychological section was presented by a retired psychologist who did a good job covering what I think we may encounter with victims and workers. CISD was addressed in that there is a group of Drs who are avaialble to help CERT members as necessary.
Our terrorism instruction basically covered the types that are out there, staying observant, etc. Our post event involvement would probably be minimal, but we could be called upon.
Our county is in central Florida and has alot of "senior" communities. There are 39 established teams in the county. Our involvement would probably be just in our own community vs being available countywide. My community seems to have one of the more involved teams and support from the community management.
Sorry this is so long winded. Hope it helps.
Thanks Bill_G, this is an interesting summary and perspective. It goes to show how much the CERT training can be tailored to actual local response postures. It sounds as though the intention with your local CERT is that trainees would be called out after disasters to supplement and support first responders, but in no way are they taking independent action. By comparison, the CERT training I took was not intended to create a force of CERT trainees who get called out together to support first responders - it was intended more for individuals who might be stuck in the first 72 hours without first responders present. If we could organize and turn out with other CERTS great, but given the geography and the fact that this was only the second CERT session in our city, there wasn't a great expectation that CERTs would be plentiful enough to be an organized force in neighborhoods. In fact, the FD Captain who trained us said listen - if the Big One strikes, the first responders won't be in your neighborhood for at least 72 hours, you will be on your own, so you should focus on rescue and care of your family and immediate neighbors, and our overall training reflected those needs.
That, plus the local Fire Chief wasn't terribly keen on CERT as responders at any numbers. And while the local CERT has grown past 25-30 classes since I took the course, its still not at a critical mass to change anyone's minds I think. the last organized function I recall was to fill sandbags and keep flood water from encroaching on a non-critical structure - a city park building. Good to do, but hardly S&R and first aid.
Just for comparisions, some takeaways from my CERT training ~5 years ago:
1. First Aid - I would characterize our own training as rudimentary FA, pressure on bleeding, immobilization, safe lifting and evacuation from unsafe structures and situations. We covered burns extensively but were told you'll never had enough supplies to treat all the burns you may encounter, so do your best to stop burning, cover, and treat the burn as much as your supplies and conditions will allow until you can evacuate your patients.
2. Triage - this was very good, setting up a triage area at which to administer FA and evacuate the most seriously injured when you can. We were told to black tag the dead, and perform FA to the level of our training and supplies, which in a Big One EQ setting may be minimal. It sounds like the MEs and attorneys in your area don't want civilians making anything resembling an assessment of death, which I suppose could come back to bite you if a double red tag stayed alive in time to receive treatment - they don't want the CERT training to come back and bite them with a bad decision. The decision to black tag is made easier if the fact is you can't tell if they are dead, they will be, because you cannot get them to medical assistance in time to save them. Black tag or double red, you won't be spending much if any time with those patients. Move on to the living.
3. S&R - we did extensive leveraging and cribbing, to the point of recommending our own home cribbing kits (ex. a garbage can filled with 2x4 and 4x4 scraps, and a large pry bar, $15 at any hardware store). I don't know how often we will use that after a 9.0M quake, but we still operate under the golden hour principle that many of viable survivors will be extricated in the first hour after the event, so best get crackin.
4. Psychological First Aid was presented, but not in the context of a group of MDs who can come to our assistance with deployed CERTS. More like, you'll deal with people in psychological 'shock', acting irrationally, etc etc, so know the signs and how to calm and focus those affected. Self-diagnosis, and always seek assistance after the immediate disaster is over. I've been through the PFA process after a few disasters now, and personally I think you do the best you can, take time away from responding when you can, and follow up with someone to talk out everything that presents problems to you afterwards.
5. 39 teams in your county is really, really terrific. That gives you enough people to respond and really do some good. In our county CERT is much more spread out, not as organized - pretty much I am expected to turn out and provide for the safety of my family and neighbors with whoever else may be available to assist. I'd rather have 4-5 certs within a mile to help out with neighborhood sweeps, S&R, selecting and setting up a triage area, and monitoring our elderly neighbors for assistance needs (meds, cold/wetness etc). It will be alot more ad hoc. It sounds like you have a good CERT program though to build your experience and skills and really be a benefit to your community!
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