Preparing for the worst in Rockville Centre
RVC to host emergency response training
At a Village Board meeting last month, Mayor Mary Bossart announced that Rockville Centre would be hosting Nassau County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. Residents who complete the training will aid Rockville Centre and Nassau County in emergency situations.
A week and a half later, a fierce storm swept through Rockville Centre, downing nearly 500 trees, blocking access to dozens of streets and cutting power to 800 residents.
“As these storms came along, you would hear reports on the radio that people are in a panic over this,” said Rockville Centre Mayor Mary Bossart. “You don’t want people to panic. Panic is not a good state for anybody to be in. We need to have, in our own minds, a plan for things going forward.”
CERT prepares residents for emergencies— hurricanes, blizzards or attacks—and also smaller things, like aiding in the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine, for example.
“It’s a group of citizen-volunteers that are trained in some basic preparedness and response that help the Office of Emergency management in times of disaster,” said Bob Beckmann, Director of Nassau County’s CERT program. “In times of non-disaster, they help prepare their neighbors and families and friends, to get the word out, that everybody needs to be prepared.”
CERT training started in Nassau County in 2002 and began to take off in 2003. Since then, over 1,000 people have been trained and they have volunteered over 20,000 hours.
Training for CERT is an eight-week course, which will be offered in Rockville Centre on Wednesdays starting on April 7 at Village Hall. Anyone who is 18 or older can take the training.
“They will learn about the Incident Command System, CERT organization, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology and terrorism awareness, some fire suppression and sheltering,” said Beckmann. “They’ll learn about two-way radio communications and community outreach, and they’ll go away with some basic disaster preparedness and response skills. And everyone in the class will actually put out a fire using a fire extinguisher.”
Upon completion, those who finish the full course will receive a CERT backpack which contains, among other things, a hardhat, a CERT vest and some emergency supplies.
The CERT program fits in with the main theme of Bossart’s State of the Village address earlier this year—resiliency.
“I think that CERT is a wonderful opportunity for people to get training to help us in emergencies such as the one we just had,” said Bossart. “This was a rehearsal for a real hurricane. This was not as bad as it could be. And we all need to be aware of that, to be prepared individually in our homes and then in our community.”
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