Austin – when the disaster strikes, can become the first respondents and their resources are thin. A new experimental program can help reduce this pressure through community volunteering efforts.
During a severe storm at the end of May, the Austin Fire Fire Department responded to more than 700 emergency calls during the early hours of the harsh weather. One person died and others were injured in a series of water rescue operations during these storms.
The agencies hope that a new experimental program will save the volunteers in preparation for emergency and eventually respond to it.
The Austin City Office for Internal Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) said it launches the CERT response team this summer.
CERT offers volunteer training that the first respondents can rely on during disasters, according to HSEM. These programs are in all fifty states and expanded to include specialized programs for adolescents, university campus and workplaces.
The three basic courses of Austin CERT will focus this summer on fire safety, light search, rescue, medical operations of disasters, shelter management, team organization and disaster preparation.
People who complete the training course training and training will receive a certificate and certificate, which includes a number of tools for preparation, response and materials, and CERT helmet and jacket to identify volunteers on the site during response activities, according to HSEM.
Cert Pilot was launched by a grant, originally written and presented by HSEM Cindy Hood. HSEM said Hood died after a battle with cancer, and is devoted to the experimental program in its memory.
Cert courses are presented in Austin
Cert lessons will be presented three times this summer as part of the experimental program. Details can be found inReadeCentraltexas.org.
The basic classes include 24 hours of instructions for several days. HSEM asks that people only register if they can adhere to the end of the course. Registrars must have a FEMA (Fema SID) student identification number. If you do not already have one, you can register for Fema Sid connected.
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HSEM said that participants who complete the courses and exercises will receive a CERT certificate and group, which includes preparation and response tools, a testimony, and a voluntary jacket that can be worn during response activities.
Although it is not required, HSEM said that students are encouraged to take free online Independent Fema Study IS-317: Introduction to CERT HSEM said the training course that will provide some background for more background for examples of what CERT volunteers can do during emergency situations.
The first respondents are struggling with employment rates over the years
The first local response agencies face conflicts with employees over the past few years.
Some of the first response agencies in the Austin region have informed this year that they are slowly recovering from the lack of employment.
Lisa Davis, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, told April that things are going in the right direction in terms of employment, and expected that vacancies will drop significantly over the next few years. The city’s review, which was released in this month, tracked vacancies rates and strategies from 2020 to 2024. During that time, the vacancies rate increased from 7.4 % to 18 %. Davis said that she expects vacancies to decrease dramatically over the next few years.
In April, the Chief of Staff of the Austin Travis Province, KXAN, was told in April that vacancies inside that section were the best that they were years ago.
However, later that month, in a document obtained by KXAN, ATCEMS Robert Lucretz president said the agency continues “innovation and challenge in the current situation to publish EMS”, but the current method of operations is “not sustainable.”
“The administration has increasingly dependent on the use of additional work, payment when calling, and contacting employees to work on their vacation days. With the section approaching full employment, this model is not sustainable,” he wrote.
In the document, he said that a temporary program will be tried to relieve pressure on emergency services. The ATCEMs program started using more “individual paramedic compounds” instead of ambulances in most calls. Individual respondents are faster than an ambulance, but they cannot transport patients.
“I am enthusiastic about seeing Austin Hasim, providing advanced emergency training such as CERT for the public,” said Jim Redk, director of HSEM in a press release. “The average society is a flexible society. Another testimony is another way for us to communicate with the public and help them prepare themselves and their neighborhoods of disasters.”