Attendees – Don Grant, Dave Shell, Dave Heiser, Robert Carlisle, Tricia Lucia, Jim Anderson, Pam Anderson, Bill Leininger Summary 1) OES CERT Council Highlights: a) Funding coming through for a “training trailer”, which we can bring up to the mountain, and has all the equipment and supplies to refresh and practice our primary CERT skills (small fire suppression; light search and rescue; first aid). Should have it available in a few months. b) Funding also allocated for caches of preprogrammed HAM radios, to be used for practice, and for extra radios during a real event. 2) Pandemic Flu Education – Jim Anderson attended the pilot module. Described good information on pandemic flu, importance of PPE (Personal protective equipment – eyes, mask, gloves, gown), hand washing, waste disposal. Biggest focus on individual and family safety, not so much on community support (like helping citizens get the vaccine or other medicines). Additionally, not much information or planning in regard to potential harm from vaccinations or symptom treatment. It sounds like this module is being reworked for better applicability to CERT’s role. 3) First Aid Review/Training – Stopping Bleeding Key Steps: a) protect yourself – gloves, mask, eye protection b) immediate treatment – direct pressure, elevation, pressure point on an artery closer to the body from the wound; then gauze on the injury, followed by tight bandaging c) on-going treatment – prevent shock (elevate legs, temperature control, hydrate); reevaluate for continued bleeding and rebandage as needed 4) Spring Cleaning/Barricade Delivery Prep – THANKS to everyone for your help emptying, cleaning, sorting, and repacking the gear. We now have pallets over the entire floor, so no more water damage, and all the rodent droppings are gone. 5) We were approved to receive one case a piece from last year’s Barricade delivery, in the water damaged boxes (the product is good – just the box is damaged). For those of you that didn’t get a case today, let me know, and we’ll arrange to get you one in the next few weeks. However, if you aren’t able to pick it up in the next few weeks, it will likely be distributed to other areas, so don’t wait too long. UPCOMING EVENTS 01 August (Saturday) - Before the Threat Campaign – OES collaboration with Farmer’s insurance to provide information to citizens on fire preparedness and recovery strategies. - Need volunteers to go door to door in various parts of the mountain to drop off satchels of information. Expect to spend about 2 hours doing handouts. 21, 22, 23 August (Fri – Sun) - Train the Trainer Class – now that you’ve had your CERT trainer, learn how to teach others. 2.5 day course, likely down by the Lindbergh Field. Required training in order to be a CERT instructor. 04 September (Friday) – PMVFD Awards Banquet – evening, at the PMVFD – celebration for all PMVFD personnel (Firefighters, Board Members, CERT, Auxiliary, etc) 05 September (Saturday) – PMVFD Annual BBQ – all day at the PMVFD – booths, raffles, food, fun for the whole family. Main fundraiser for the dept. - CERT will be hosting an information booth on disaster preparedness, and doing Barricade demonstrations during the day - Beyond supporting CERT, the BBQ is looking for volunteers to help with LOTS of other activities. Contact Tricia Lucia if you’re interested. 19 September (Saturday) - San Diego County CERT Day – similar to the Before the Threat Campaign (01 Aug), but sponsored by Allstate Insurance. Similar activities with distributing information to residents. 17 October (Saturday) - San Diego County CERT Drill – sponsored by Imperial Beach. Scenario – TSUNAMI! - More details to follow, but mark your calendars – these event are a lot of fun (especially when we’re not the group hosting it!). I expect many of the CERT members from other county groups will attend this event, so it will be a good opportunity to catch up with people who joined us for the Bike Race Exercise. Final Note – CERT is always invited to the PMVFD Monday Night drills – 1800-2100 at the PMVFD. Suzann has been going regularly, and been enjoying it. Chief Lucia and I will try to advertise the class topics if you have a particular interest. Bill Leininger PMVFD CERT Coordinator |