Mira Mesa CERT Newsletter

Good morning, here is the news: Rescue Drill/Team Meeting—This counts as our Team Meeting for the month. If you have not RSVP'd yet, and want to go, please let me know by tomorrow (Wednesday) 4:00pm. I need to make final arrangements for equipment. Sunday, 10 June, Carmel Valley Recreation Center, 1:30—4:30pm. We'll be working with a variety of rescue techniques, generally divided into three sessions, Stabilization/Extraction/Removal, Transport and Rescue Knots. I'll have more on all this in the Battalion News. I hope to see you there. July Meeting— Tuesday, 10 July, 6—7pm in the Senior Center. I think we will try to get some of the people who made the triage CE to share their experience with the rest of us, so we all have some knowledge of the new system. If this comes up again at a later date as a CE, you can still take it for full credit, and I strongly recommend that you do. DSW Cards—I will turn this month's batch in on Thursday afternoon, so if you think you qualify for your first card or a renewal, and you have not contacted me about it yet, there is still time, but please do it today, the last minute thing wears on everybody. National Preparedness Month—This one is for your long range calendar. The Mira Mesa Street Fair is Saturday, 15 September. Last year we did VERY well recruiting at the Fair, many of our new Members signed up there (glad to have you folks). Obviously I'd like to repeat that experience, so please make a mark on your calendar for 15 September, and plan to join us for a few hours. There will be interactive demos again, I'm not sure what those will look like, but you can bet the dummy will get another workout. Also this year in National Preparedness Month we will once again be participating in the Memorial Stair Climb. That's on the Calendar for 8 September, at the Hilton Bay Front. It's a busy month for us, as there will be other things available for us during the month. Clearly I'll have more on these important events as we get closer to Fall, please keep the two dates in mind. All for this week, questions, comments, you know how to find me. -Steve

Conducting CERT drills and exercises just got easier

Dear CERTers, The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program at FEMA is pleased to announce a new library of 20 ready-to-use CERT exercises of all types, now available for download on the new Drills and Exercises page of the National CERT website at http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/exercises.shtm. The new materials will help CERT programs conduct a variety of drills and exercises based on different scenarios. Drills and exercises are great opportunities for CERT programs to engage their volunteer members and to practice, assess, and improve their program’s emergency response plans and on-the-ground operations. The scenarios, objectives, and events of each exercise can be used as is or modified to address the local CERT program’s training priorities. The new web page includes materials for 4 drills, 6 tabletop exercises, 4 functional exercises, 4 full-scale exercises and 2 competitive events that were developed according to national guidance and principles outlined by the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). All drills and exercises were developed with common terminology and a systematic approach consistent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) framework to ensure that CERT programs are well-integrated with emergency management and incident response operations. Planning exercises and drills does not have to be a daunting and time-consuming task for CERT programs. Review the drills and exercises on the National CERT website and start planning for your next CERT exercise today! Please let CERT practitioners and advocates around the country know your thoughts about the new library of exercises or any aspect of CERT at the CERT Online Forum. Share your ideas, suggestions and comments at http://community.fema.gov. Thank you! Sincerely, National CERT Program Federal Emergency Management Agency