High-school students get hands-on emergency training

Jim Watkins picks a few blades of grass and checks the direction of the wind.

As Cape Girardeau Central High School students begin to gather around the Community Emergency Response Team instructor, he turns around and asks them where they think the wind is coming from. The group is getting ready to practice putting out fires, and they want to be sure they are not in the path of the flames.

The students are part of Central teacher Charity Huff's Life-saving Techniques class. Huff said this is the first year they've had CERT training, but her class also goes through other training during the class, such as adult, child and infant CPR and first aid.

CERT training takes 20 hours to complete, with classroom work and hands-on activities. The students are spending all day Thursday and today in the training. If anything is left to be covered, Watkins will return next week during the regularly scheduled Life-Saving Techniques class to tie up loose ends.

"It's almost like a field trip ... but it's right here," Huff said.

Life-saving Techniques is an elective class available to juniors and seniors. Huff pointed out the neighboring Career and Technology Center has programs for emergency medical technician and other jobs in the medical field, so "this is a great class to take junior year."

The students each take a turn putting out the controlled, liquid propane-fueled fire. They walk up in pairs, the one in front using an extinguisher to put out the fire and the one in back helping guide the other student away safely once the flames are extinguished.

"Backup person, you got his back?" Watkins asked as the first group approached.

"Yes, sir," came the reply.

While the students clearly found the activity engaging, they took their task seriously. Each student wore a reflective vest and hard hat and carried a backpack with other items one might need in an emergency: goggles, duct tape and markers.

Student Hannah Shovan said learning to help others during an emergency gives her a "good feeling."

"I'm planning to be an EMT after high school," she said, so she was excited to take part in the training and exercises.

Deandre Banks said he plans to own his own business one day and wants to be sure he knows how to "handle a situation when others are there."

While the group of 19 students didn't have many hours of CERT training under their belts, Banks and Shovan said they already saw the value.

"It's an educational process you'll actually be able to use to help somebody," Banks said. Though he hadn't had the opportunity yet to use any of the skills he's been learning, "I have seen people choking and stuff, and if I'd had training, I probably would've helped."

Shovan was thinking on another practical level: "This is a thousands-of-dollars program we get for free" as part of their high-school curriculum.

In addition to fire suppression, Community Emergency Response Team training includes sections on light search-and-rescue operations, medical operations, disaster simulation, bioterrorism, disaster psychology and home preparedness -- things like car, home and work emergency kits and utility shutoffs, "just being ready at home for the unexpected," Watkins said.

Watkins is careful to explain CERT classes do not include CPR training and therefore can't be called "first aid."

"Once you start CPR, you don't stop until you're too exhausted to continue, they have signs of life, someone else CPR-certified takes over or EMS shows up," he said.

Watkins said the success rate of CPR is only about 17 percent.

"So if I quit and go help somebody else who is bleeding ... I've abandoned that person. I've opened myself up to the good Samaritan law," he said.

Good Samaritan laws help protect trained emergency medical personnel providing care during emergencies from liability other than negligence.

"So that's why we do not teach CPR, because it's in a disaster situation. There are more victims than there are responders," Watkins said. "We encourage everyone to take CPR; we encourage everybody to do those things. But it's not part of the CERT training."

Watkins said it can be difficult for some people to understand it's sometimes necessary to go help several people while leaving one trapped temporarily until someone more qualified gets there.

"You've got to do the greater good," he said.

kwebster@semissourian.com

388-3646

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Emergency kits

• Home: Water (one gallon of water per person per day, to last three days), canned or dried nonperishable food that dosen*'t need to be cooked (a three-day supply per person, a manual can opener, formula and baby food if needed, a battery-powered radio, a flashlight, extra batteries for the radio and flashlight, a list of prescription medications and a first-aid kit.
• Car: Small, portable emergency supply kit, a gallon of water, several cans of food, a manual can opener, blankets, sleeping bags, money and first-aid supplies.
• Work: Keep your own supply of fresh water and canned food, a flashlight, and battery-powered radio at your desk or locker. Consider keeping a change of clothes and a pair of strong, practical shoes or boots at work.
• Pets: Extra food, water and medications, a carrier, a leash and extra kitty litter. If you must leave home, bring your pet with you, if possible. Make sure pets have identification tags and up-to-date vaccinations.

Source: health.mo.gov