Updates | West Orange County CERT (Community Emergency Response Team for Western Orange County California)

2022 Academy Recap

It was our West County CERT’s 23rd Academy. It’s the same Academy that was postpone twice, due to the pandemic – the third time is the charm apparently – and things went sideways and almost derailed it at the very last minute. And still thanks in no small part to the dedication and resourcefulness of our City Coordinators, our 23rd Academy was….

Amazing!

What an Academy!

We had almost 50 residents come together for the two Friday nights and Saturdays to work our way through the 20-hour CERT basic training program. Then Saturday afternoon, the graduates and current CERT members completed an awesome field exercise where we got to practice some of the skills we learned.

We had some great guest experts come in to share their experiences from the field too. Thanks to Carrie Scott for an informative disaster psychology session on our first Friday evening; Sgt John Krok for his medical assessment and bandaging instruction and the team from Falck Ambulance for the hands-on assist with each of our 8 teams of attendees. During our second Friday evening we had a sobering presentation regarding terrorism from Josh Goldmark.

Of course our Academy could not have happened without the tireless support from our Team Coordinators: Loree Erpelding, Ed Fleming, Robert Acosta, and Brian Gray. We cannot forget about all the team members who pitched in to help with the course: Kris Thomas, Debbie Charland, Michelle Charland, Jan Ridgeway, Dave Atkins, Anna Bilyk, Robin Fairman, Sandy McClure, Cathy Lopez, Emanual Aparicio, Candace Workman, Lance Smith, Art Remnet, Daniel Mahoney, Willie Ortega, Jean Daum, Richard Daum, Vicki Davio, Don Davio, Howard Neill, Lynn Selden, Tom Woodward, and Suzette Ryzner. If you pitched in and we left you off the list, please accept our apologies.

The Academy presented all sorts of opportunities for fun learning about utility turn off valves, how to put out fires (remember PASS, right?), and of course the medical triage and bandaging. Let’s not forget about patient transport, what to do in a terrorism event, and how to lift a dumpster with some wood and a crowbar.

August Team Training – In Person No Less!

What a great training and meeting!

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it. The turnout was great. It was so nice to see friends and faces that we have missed over the past few years. The pizza was plentiful and delicious. Thanks to SBPD for hosting and the pizza and to Barbara Flack for the drinks. The turnout was terrific, and it was great getting back together.

Chief Gonshak welcomed the Team back after nearly a three-year hiatus. briefed the Team on the department updates, including the new Crops with Cops Garden at the station and the department’s fantastic social media program headed up by Sgt Jordan Mirakian. If you don’t already follow SBPD on social media, you owe it to yourself to take a look (Facebook & Instagram). Funny, informative, enlightening, addicting – in a good way.

Sgt Mirakian also shared that the SBPD will be holding DUI Checkpoints again in the coming months in Seal Beach. This is good news for those of us who enjoy assisting with these community education events.

A huge thank you goes out to Robin Fairman who arranged for Seal Beach Marine Safety Office Mike Diller to share about the Seal Beach Lifeguard and Marine Safety programs, water safety, rip currents (remember, there’s no such thing as a rip tide), and how to treat sting ray stings. It was a great presentation and we all learned a bit about the ocean, water safety and all that lifeguards do.

In addition to sting ray stings hurt so try to avoid them, the one big take away was, any time you are at the beach, and you have a question, “ask a lifeguard!”

Hope to see you at our upcoming events.

2022 CERT Academy – In Person This Fall

We have an ACADEMY!

After all the starts and (mostly) stops, we have finally been cleared to hold our interactive, hands-on Academy at the end of September at the Joint Forces Training Center (JFTB) in Los Alamitos.

Our Academy is based on the FEMA approved course work and includes fire suppression (yes, you get to use a fire extinguisher to put out a real fire), basic first aid and wound dressing, light search and rescue techniques (the kind you’d need to help your family in an earthquake) and disaster psychology.

The 20-hour Academy runs from 6:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m. on Fridays 9/30 & 10/7 and from 8:00-5:00 on Saturday 10/1 & 10/8. All four days are required to complete the course. Lunches are provided on both Saturdays.

Here’s the application and details on the event. It’s a great course and you will learn a lot about how to protect yourself and your family when disaster comes your way.