COVID, COVID, COVID. We can see a light at the end of the tunnel but we aren’t there yet. Thanks to the City of Tualatin and our wonderful CERT Trainers, you can still learn how to prepare for an emergency and volunteer to help the community when a catastrophic disaster hits!
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training is a national program designed to prepare Tualatin’s residents and company employees to help themselves, their families and neighbors in the event of a disaster. Trained instructors guide participants through a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) course covering basic skills that are important to know in a disaster when emergency services are not available. Tualatin CERT is an all-volunteer non profit consisting of trained residents and employees of companies located in Tualatin.
COVID and physical distancing measures currently limit our ability to meet in-person; Tualatin CERT now offers an online course for a Tualatin CERT-Ready Certificate. This hybrid course includes 12 hours of online independent study and another 8.5 hours of Zoom training. All training and CERT equipment is free.
Volunteers completing this course will receive CERT equipment, and instruction to respond to an earthquake or other emergency during a pandemic using social distancing and protection equipment. You will be a member of the Tualatin CERT Team.
Once the COVID threat has passed, volunteers receive 16 hours of hands-on training and emergency simulation to complete the Basic CERT course.
Our Spring 2021 Basic CERT Course starts Thursday, March 4th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom. Zoom sessions repeat every Thursday evening from 7 to 8 p.m. for 7 sessions. The online self-study course is offered through the University of Utah. Online topics are:
- Disaster Preparedness
- CERT Organization
- Disaster Medical Operations
- Disaster Psychology
- Fire Safety and Utility Controls
- Light Search and Rescue
- Terrorism and CERT
For more information about CERT, or the online CERT-Ready program, contact Membership Director Brian Fant at info@TualatinCERT.org.
If you can’t attend a full CERT-Ready session, Tualatin CERT also offers a two-hour Tualatin Neighborhood Ready presentation via Zoom, to help your neighborhood get better prepared. To request a presentation for your neighborhood, contact Barbara Bracken at TualatinReadyMYN@gmail.com.
