Floods and Other Disasters: Learn About CERT and Being Prepared
When the torrential rains and subsequent flooding and landslides hit Santa Cruz County last month many residents, including seniors, were not well prepared. It seems like a good time to highlight our local branch of CERT (Community Emergency Response Team)—a nationwide program that falls under FEMA’s Individual and Community Preparedness Division—and also share a few tips related to a variety of potential disasters.
As the national CERT website states, CERT is a “…nationally supported, locally implemented initiative that teaches people how to better prepare themselves for hazards that may affect their communities.” For three decades, CERT has offered training for the public covering basic disaster response skills including disaster medical operations, fire safety, team organization, and ‘light search and rescue.’ One of the reasons that CERT volunteers are so valuable? When they are able to perform these activities, it “…frees up professional responders to focus their efforts on more complex, essential, and critical tasks.”
Here is the lowdown on how CERT works: each local CERT program trains and organizes volunteers to assist their families, neighbors, co-workers, and other community members. The volunteer teams help out before, during, and after disasters (including floods). Their responsibilities include checking in on neighbors, communicating information to the public, providing crucial support for emergency operations centers, and assisting in traffic management.
Mary Edmund, who is 73, has served as Executive Director for the Santa Cruz County CERT Auxiliary since 2015.
She took her first CERT class in 2008. “I decided to organize my Seacliff neighborhood after that,” she says. Mary became an active volunteer, and eventually spearheaded the formation of the Santa Cruz County CERT Auxiliary as a non-profit organization. As Executive Director, she serves as the main organizer and fundraiser including doing grant writing, budgets, bookkeeping, etc. She finds all of the work rewarding.
“Everyone in CERT is a volunteer. I work to promote community awareness and how important it is to plan ahead and get adequate training… this makes it possible for people to directly help other people during times of need.”
Mary loves helping teach people, then getting to witness those individuals helping and teaching others. “I find a lot of joy in working with like-minded people,” she says. “There are so many people I have met through CERT, that I otherwise would have never met, that are wonderful additions to my life.”
Mary enlisted in the Army at 17 and served in the military for 30 years before retiring as a Colonel at age 47. That’s when she moved to Santa Cruz and became, in her words, a “career volunteer.” Her volunteer experience includes many years at Homeless Garden Project.
At the Santa Cruz County CERT, about one-third of the volunteers are seniors. “We welcome people of all ages,” says Mary. “I love working with people that care about helping others.” One of these individuals is CERT member Dawn Mackey, 74 years old, who Mary refers to as “a great role model for others.” Dawn has been part of CERT for six years and has served as an instructor for the last four years.
“I joined CERT after I retired as I have always been involved with community preparedness and
I wanted to help others,” says Dawn. When asked about CERT’s benefits, Dawn cites two roles that CERT serves.
“The first is individual and family preparedness. I have lived in Bonny Doon for 50 years. My husband and I had to take care of ourselves and our children and animals through many emergencies and disasters. Knowing what to do and what to have and what to take when you evacuate makes a huge difference in your state of mind and recovery.” Because of her CERT training, they were prepared when the CZU Lightning Complex Fire happened in 2020. “And even if all you do is prepare your house for a shelter in place, CERT education and training will help,” she adds.
“The second role is neighborhood and community facing,” explains Dawn. “Knowing basic medical care, search and rescue, disaster psychology and being able to help out in community-wide activations gives confidence, direction, and purpose as well as friends and connections.” When Dawn’s husband passed away last year, the connections she had made through CERT provided a great deal of support.
Mary, Dawn, and other local CERT members have performed a lot of service in the last couple years. “We have been able to help out at evacuation centers, COVID-19 vaccination and testing centers and—most recently—the FEMA outreach, among other things,” says Dawn. “CERT training says you help yourself and your family first.” When January’s storms happened, she helped other family members who live in a flood zone.
“Overall, the value of listening and empathizing and recognizing those in severe mental distress, taught in the Disaster Psychology unit, has turned out to be the most frequently used CERT training,” says Dawn. “Traffic control, which was not in the basic curriculum but taught in Santa Cruz as continuing education, is also used frequently.” An example of how the local CERT helped during January’s storms was featured in CERT Auxiliary of Santa Cruz County’s February email newsletter. The article’s author, CERT team member Karen Corscadden (also an ARES / Amateur Radio Emergency Service member) states, “At the very northern edge of Santa Cruz County, off of Highway 1, is an area called Whitehouse Canyon. On Jan 2, 2023, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office (SO) determined that the single road leading into Whitehouse Canyon (Whitehouse Canyon Road) would likely wash out in the next storm. Facing staffing limitations, SO asked for assistance from the Community Emergency Response Team to notify this area that they were being issued an evacuation order to begin at 5pm on Jan 3.” Because CERT realized communications might be challenging during this situation, they reached out to ARES for communications assistance. At the same time, they asked ARES if they had access to a vehicle that would be safe for this road. When ARES was told about the situation, they wanted to find out if any animals might need evacuation assistance, and reached out to Equine Evac, who confirmed there were animals in need.
“CERT came up with a plan to get a vehicle into the area to deliver evacuation notices,” wrote Karen. “Equine Evac came up with a plan to evacuate the livestock in the area… ARES came up with a communications plan to support both activities… In the end, a request for CERT support turned into a three-organization activation with two different objectives that were both successfully executed on, delivering evacuation orders and livestock evacuation. It is a testament to the great relationships that our volunteer Disaster Service Worker organizations have with each other and our drive to do the job correctly, not just to do the minimum requested, that led to a very smooth, successful activation.”
Interested in becoming a local volunteer? To start, check out santacruzcountycert.org/faq/ for answers to frequently asked questions. For example, if you’re hesitant because of your age or physical ability, be assured that—as Mary alluded to— there are many types of service. “Following a disaster, CERT members are needed for documentation, comforting others, logistics, etc.,” the FAQ section explains. “Non-disaster-related team activities may include keeping databases, developing a website, writing a newsletter, planning activities, helping with special events and organizing exercises and activities.”
The next local CERT Basic Training Course occurs in Live Oak over three weekend days: Saturday March 18, Saturday March 25, and Sunday April 2. To sign up, go to signupgenius.com/go/ certbasic#/ and choose the tab at the top which says “In-person MarApril 2023 class.” During the class, attendees will learn—through lectures and hands-on practice— about topics including How CERT Operates, Disaster Medicine and Triage, Disaster Psychology, Disaster Preparedness, and Fire and Utility Safety.
FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is also a good resource. As an individual—especially if you are a senior living alone—it’s important to have a plan in case of disaster. To help with this, FEMA has several easy-to-access lists and brochures online. Visit the site ready.gov/publications for details. Here are some basic tips from the brochure Preparing Makes Sense: 1) Know Your Risk (particular to where you live, etc.), 2) Make a Plan (including assessing the specific needs of your household like medical needs), and 3) Take Action (gather supplies, secure important documents, understand your insurance coverage, etc.). This brochure also has information about how to download an app where you can receive real-time weather and emergency alerts, locate shelters, and send messages to family members.
One tip that everyone can agree on: create an emergency supply kit. You can access more details and a full list at the site mentioned above, but some items to have onhand are water, non-perishable food, cash, flashlight and extra batteries, prescription medications, dust mask to help filter contaminated air, sleeping bag, extra cell phone charger, and a whistle to signal for help.
Hopefully, this article has illuminated a couple simple steps everyone can take in order to become more prepared, and simultaneously provided a glimpse into CERT for those interested in joining.
For more information on CERT
Visit santacruzcountycert.org or email certauxiliary@gmail.com
Also see national website community.fema.gov/PreparednessCommunity/s/ about-cert