By Elizabeth Perry
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:13 AM CST
For the first time, the city of O'Fallon is developing its own Citizen Emergency Response Team.
The team is composed of resident volunteers willing to help the police during crises.
O'Fallon Police Officer Andy Stowers said the class should appeal to anyone who thinks people "need to be able to take care of ourselves."
Seven people have signed up for CERT classes. Stowers said he hopes for 25 participants.
Many other communities in the county have CERT programs, and Stowers said officials who run those programs were resources for him.
"Everybody has helped me," Stowers said. "I couldn't do it without community support."
Shalom Shoaf, the CERT coordinator for the St. Charles Fire Department, was one of those people in the community who provided support.
Shoaf said she and Stowers talked about necessary paperwork and how to gain support for the program.
Shoaf said CERT has been around since the late 1970s, forming after an earthquake in Mexico killed 800 rescuers who were trying to clear a building. The idea is to train volunteers to increase their chances of survival and make them more effective in emergencies, Shoaf said.
Shoaf said her team is utilized more than any other in the county.
"We deploy my CERT team in the city quite a bit," Shoaf said.
Volunteer team members went door to door in St. Charles during an ice storm a couple years ago to see if residents needed help. Shoaf said her team of volunteers has safely evacuated nursing homes.
"We have to be out there ready to help our neighbors," said Phillip Yocum, an evidence officer with the Wentzville Police Department and a CERT organizer.
Stowers said Yocum also advised him.
Yocum said he was impressed by the spirit of volunteerism among his team. There is a waiting list for volunteers who want to take part in Wentzville's CERT program, he said.
Wentzville will also be conducting CERT classes for Wentzville residents Jan. 26 with CERT classes for teenagers starting Feb. 19.
Jim Sease, a volunteer who started Dardenne Prairie's CERT team, said he was glad to help with the formation of O'Fallon's team.
"I am personally excited to see O'Fallon get a program," Sease said.
Sease said the two cities are like a zipper, with O'Fallon families and Dardenne Prairie families interwoven.
Volunteer programs like CERT are important because the federal government is not always available to help right away in emergencies, Sease said.
Sease said CERT is important for another reason.
"There are times when the first responders become the victims themselves," Sease said.
First Community Credit Union donated $580 and Peoples Bank donated $500 to the program in O'Fallon, which does not have government funding yet, Stowers said.
The class has a $25.00 per-person fee to defray the cost of the program, Stowers said.
Stowers said the program is good for anybody interested in disaster services or emergency management.
Residents will learn how to be prepared for a disaster by packing kits containing, food, water and extra medication to keep them going for at least two days.
They'll learn fire safety, first aid, how to safely lift heavy objects and how to help others coping with disaster.
Search and rescue will also be covered in the three-day class.
Participants who take the class will get a backpack full of survival gear and supplies.
If you go:
WHAT: O'Fallon's Citizen Emergency Response Team Course
WHERE: 100 N. Main Street, O'Fallon
WHEN: Feb. 20 - 22
CONTACT: Officer Andy Stowers, 636-379-5686
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.ofallon.mo.us/PO/CERT
Thursday, January 22, 2009
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