Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

The purpose of this Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course is to provide citizens with the basic skills needed during a major disaster. This training will allow graduates to respond to the immediate need of their community in the aftermath of a major disaster - the time when emergency services may not be immediately available. By working together, CERT members can assist in saving lives and protecting property by implementing the basic techniques taught in this course.

Course Contents
Basic Course: 8 weeks, 3 hours per week

This course is supported by (FEMA) Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

Week 1:  Disaster Preparedness...Makes the student aware of various types of major emergencies that could affect Central Florida, the Emergency Management System, and disaster recovery.

Weeks 2 and 3:  Disaster Medical I & II...disaster medical operations.  Recognizing and treating life threatening injuries, triage, splinting, bandaging and patient care.

Week 4:  Light Search & Rescue...teaches light search & rescue operations; size-up, search methods, patterns and safety precautions.

Week 5:  Fire Suppression...teaches basic fire suppression, team and personal safety considerations, and an introduction to the problems associated with Hazardous Materials incidents.

Week 6:  Homeland Security....students will be introduced to the basic avenues of bio-terrorism.  What are you most likely to encounter as citizens and how should you respond before, during and after the assault?  Learn the protective measures the City of Orlando has in place to respond to these possible acts against our communities.

Week 7:  Pre-Storm Operations...focuses on CERT operations before a disaster.  Long-term planning, how to organize a neighborhood, evaluate available resources and identify people with special needs.  Includes hurricane tracking exercise.

Week 8:  Post-Storm Operations...facing problems organizing teams under emergency conditions and operating a neighborhood "command post".  The student learns concepts of resource procurement and allocation, disaster psychology, damage assessment and documentation.