Originally Posted By: Lono
Paperwork / documentation. There does seem to be lots of it, because rescue situations are involved, and CERT anticipates that you may be involved in dozens of rescue situations before first responders arrive. Things not documented will be forgotten. Every house that your CERT team ventures into to check for injured has to be documented - or the first responders will have to do it again. Every victim with injuries should be documented, or the EMTs and ERs will have to start from scratch understanding their patients.


Ah, this is where it gets interesting. Is it your understanding that the forms we fill out will go to the first responders? Have you been explicitly told that? My team discovered that the forms will go up the chain of command, but does not go to the first responders. We were told this is not an example of causing more work for people. For example, medical responders will evaluate the victims from scratch anyway, because CERT assessment and treatment, being of a amateur skill level, cannot be relied upon. My team was frustrated by this policy, because that makes documentation somewhat pointless except for legal/political reasons. The forms are more about controlling the CERT teams, less about helping the victims.

What you say above (and below in a paragraph I do not quote) indicates your area is run differently. Very interesting.

Originally Posted By: Lono
When you finished CERT, did you print out an area map of your neighborhood, and document the location of gas and water shut offs, electrical lines, and possibly the location of the elderly, MDs, heavy equipment operators etc etc?


No. My team has members drawn from different counties, and we "cover" those counties, along with a number of other CERTs. We can also get sent to regions in the state that don't belong to us. Some of my team members live more than an hour away from me, so obviously we don't have the same "neighborhood." One of the things we have to worry about is how to find a meeting point after a disaster, when communication is down, roads/road signs might be damaged, and the deployment location may be so rural that it does not have a useful address. So it sounds like your CERT program is much more neighborhood-based? That seems like a good idea.