The Daviess County Emergency Management Agency and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) are hosting classes on disaster preparedness starting Thursday.
The 6-week class meets every Thursday starting July 11 and is free to the public. The sessions are aimed at disaster and emergency response, including natural disasters, terrorism, medical response, and fires.
“It gives you the bare basics. You won’t come out a nurse, but you will come out with some basic first-aid skills. You’re not going to come out a fireman, but you will come out with the ability to put out small fires on your own. Very basic skills like that that everyone should know,” EMA Planner Denise Bell said.
Bell said that, on average, it takes 72 hours for outside help to come to the rescue. So, the course is meant to prepare people to help during those 72 hours.
EMA Director Andy Ball said one of the most consistent messages from disaster survivors is that they wish they were better prepared. Through the program, Ball said officials plan to address that issue.
“It is imperative that residents take the responsibility to better prepare themselves now because when disasters strike, first responders will likely be extremely busy at least the first 72 hours with priorities affecting larger populations, as well as restoring critical infrastructure,” Ball said.
While everyone may not know about the next disaster, Bell said it’s still important to prepare for it.
“It will come. So, we as a community need to be prepared to help each other and help ourselves. Whether that’s having water and basic food supplies or skills, we need to be prepared,” Bell said.
The class is held seasonally, and the summer classes are close to reaching the 60-person cap. Bell said that the CERT plans to host another series of classes in the late fall or early winter.
With the high number of enrolls, Ball said this demonstrates the importance of being prepared for anything. For people who want to enroll in this class or find out information about the next series, contact DCEMA at 270-685-8448.
“The bottom line is the more residents are able to take care of themselves and neighbors in the beginning, the quicker our community can be restored to a somewhat normalcy,” Ball said. “The more CERT we have trained in our community the more resilient we will be.”
