CERT Training Reaches VIP Employees

With the goal of wanting to help their peers in the case of an emergency, three VIP Industries employees recently took part in Community Emergency Response Team training.

These developmentally disabled adults now feel better prepared to handle an emergency after their involvement with the CERT training program, which is designed to prepare community members for a major disaster. The training is a realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations, where many people will be left on their own until help can arrive and they will have to take care of themselves and others.

"I do feel prepared for an emergency," said Mary Jane DeBrock, one of the employees at the sheltered workshop.

Mary Jane, along with co-workers Danny Simpson and Tim Kunz, went through 20 hours of training on disaster preparedness, disaster fire suppression, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue operations, disaster psychology and team organization, terrorism, and disaster simulation.

"A lot of the class is hands on," explained Jim Watkins, CERT training coordinator.

From putting out a fire with a fire extinguisher, to searching for and carrying people out of a building, to bandaging a victim's arm, the VIP employees gained a wealth of knowledge that could someday save the lives of their neighbors or friends.

"I do want to see that they are safe and taken care of," Mary Jane said of the people she lives with at Regency Terrace of Cape Girardeau, an eight-bedroom group home ran by Regency Management.

Danny also now feels a responsibility in making sure his neighbors are safe in the apartment building he lives in.

"The main thing was we were taught how to help people out of fires," he said.

Tim echoed Danny's feelings of responsibility to his neighbors, saying that he wants to be able to help others out when disaster strikes. Both men live in apartments offered by Regency Management, which provides residential and assisted living facilities for individuals with developmental disabilities.

The three employees learned many valuable lessons during the training and recommend others take part in the program. The employees all earned badges after completing the course and passing a hands-on test where they used the skills they learned to rescue people from a building after a mock disaster.

"That training is something you have to pay attention to," Mary Jane said, adding that she enjoyed the program.

She also noted that she passed the test with "flying colors."

"They really did a good job," Watkins said. "We were very happy to have them as part of the class and they added to the class."

CERT training was developed in Los Angeles in 1986 as a response to the New Mexico City earthquake that claimed thousands of lives. More than 300 people died trying to save others, Watkins explained. While major disasters usually attract spontaneous volunteers, the organizers of CERT felt it was important to teach those volunteers how to safely help others.

The training is offered throughout the country and came to Cape Girardeau in 1991. There currently are more than 3,000 people trained in CERT in Southeast Missouri, Watkins noted.

The training program is offered to the community at least two times a year, usually in spring and fall. The CERT trainers also will go to businesses and even subdivisions, offering training to anyone 18 years and older.

"You don't know when it's going to happen," Mary Jane said. "So far Cape has been pretty lucky. I'm just glad I got the CERT training."

To learn more about CERT training you can log on to www.semo.edu/training/cert.htm or contact Watkins at 573-339-6799, ext. 2.

For more information about VIP Industries, including the services, programs, and housing facilities it offers, log on to their new website at www.vipindustries.com, or call 573-334-9661.