Good morning, here is the news:
******MIRA MESA**********
Team Meeting—This next Monday, January 10, 5:30-6:30pm. A local company, ProfitLine, is allowing us to use a conference room in their corporate headquarters for a meeting. Their offices are at 9920 Pacific Heights Blvd., Ste. 200. That's the big glass building on the Northwest corner of Pacific Heights Blvd. and Mira Mesa Blvd. From Mira Mesa Blvd, turn North onto Pacific Heights, then left at the first light, then an immediate left into the parking lot. Take the elevator to the second floor. We'll have some sort of signage in the lobby. Try to be prompt, the lobby doors lock automatically and the elevator is card-access only after 6:00.
At this meeting, we will review our wound care skills. I will get some of the training kits used in Academy, so we will have plenty of rolled bandage and probably some splinting materials. Feel free to bring your own materials if you want to try them out. If you have ordered materials online or have a local source for First Aid materials, please bring that information to share. We'll try to conclude promptly at 6:30. When you have a few moments, take a look at your manual, starting at page 4-15, lots of good information there. Please be prepared to be a practice victim as well as a rescuer, we'll most likely pair up to practice. Full PPE is not required, but I'd like to see everyone wear gloves, it's a different experience when you have to wrap a wound gloved, and we all need to practice that way. We are going to keep the pace really fast, just as we would in a real situation when many patients need our help, and we can't spend a lot of time with anyone. Hopefully we'll have time to do head-to-toe assessments also. I'll see you here.
February Team Meeting—In February, the tenth falls on a Thursday. I think we will do an FRS radio drill similar to last year's drill. For those of you who weren't with us, it works like this; instead of going to our rally point, you will start from your own home. Promptly at 5:30, we will set up a controlled net on our watch channel, Channel 7 (I'll have more about all of this later, don't worry about it). If you hear the announcement, you will attempt to respond with your general location. If you cannot, then you drive half the distance to the rally point, pull over in a safe location and try again. When we all get to the rally point, we will map out the contacts and try to determine our coverage. Last year, most of us were surprised at how good it was, based on our previous experiences. So we'll see if we do that well this time. If you don't have an FRS radio, and want to participate, let me know by email, some of us have spares we can loan.
******BATTALION 5**********
Upcoming CE—This course is now full. I guess there was a bit of pent-up demand for a CE. This course is conducted by Tom Beasley and Susan Coniry, survivalists and authors of "Ready or Not, a Disaster Survival Handbook". Please Note: If you have taken this course for CE credit in the last 12 months, you cannot take it again for CE credit. If you missed out on this and want to go, get on the wait list, they might take a few more. This Saturday, 8 January, 10-12 down at NTC, probably in 89B. Go here to get on the wait list:
Upcoming Academy, register for notification—we don't have dates yet, but if you know someone who is interested in joining CERT, have them visit our web site:
and sign up to be notified when the Academy opens for registration. I can't emphasize enough how important this is, people are much more likely to take action when the opportunity presents, and there is a sense of urgency. You probably know that the last few Academies filled up, so please urge your candidate to get on the notification list, send them the link I posted above in an email if possible.
Occasional Rant—We make a lot of personal equipment recommendations in CERT. Starting with Academy, we get good advice about things we could obtain that would make us more effective when we must deploy to face an emergency. I want to be very clear about this, these suggestions are just that, suggestions. You are not required to purchase any of this equipment to participate as CERT. When you come to a drill, you need to bring your Go-Bag and your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). When you deploy you also need to bring whatever you need to sustain yourself for at least a full 24-hour day (medications, water, food etc). I don't want anyone to think that they are less valuable to us as CERT because they don't show up with a bus full of equipment. So, if you want to get basic medical supplies, an FRS radio, whatever, feel free to ask for advice at your team meeting before you buy, and know that we need you and your training in any case.
That's all for this week, I'm sure we'll have much more as we all get used to this whole idea of 2011. Questions, comments, contact your Team Leader.
-Steve
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