Free classes to help Pittsburghers with disaster, emergency readiness

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A series of free community classes to better prepare Pittsburghers for medical emergencies, natural disasters and other stressors will be offered through the summer.

The Prepared Pittsburgh program features five distinct class offerings at Carnegie Library branches across the city, Mayor Bill Peduto’s office announced Monday. Sessions will run 30 minutes to an hour, said Michael Roth, 24, an AmeriCorps fellow with the city.

He took a lead in developing the readiness effort, which the city crafted in partnership with the Cities of Service nonprofit group. Every session is free and open to the public. Part of a $25,000 grant from the nonprofit will cover expenses.

“All these programs not only make us a stronger community — they make us stronger individually,” Mr. Peduto said.

The effort follows Pittsburgh’s “OnePGH” resilience strategy, which urges collaboration as the city tackles social, environmental, infrastructure and other problems, Mr. Peduto said.

The classes also are rooted in Pittsburgh’s latest Climate Action Plan, which council passed last month, said Grant Ervin, the city’s chief resilience officer. Goals under that plan include slashing energy and water use 50 percent citywide by 2030.

“One of the key lessons that we learned in both of those plans was the engagement of community — how important it is to bring residents together to both share information but also to learn from one another,” Mr. Ervin said.

The classes will try to help residents improve energy efficiency in their homes; learn basic CPR and other emergency medical practices; and prepare for weather events related to climate change, among other concerns. A complete list of Prepared Pittsburgh classes, along with session dates, times and locations, is available at http://pittsburghpa.gov/onepgh/.