Osky News Citizen Of The Week For August 12, 2011
Jim Walker (left) is seen helping to stack water in preparation for an emergency during the floods of 2010
Oskaloosa, Iowa- Many times, people who deserve to be recognized for their actions are not. Whether it be because they don’t want to be recognized or if they are simply over looked, it has been known to happen. That is why we, here at Osky News, are creating a citizen of the week award. Each week we will recognize a person for their volunteerism. To do this, we need your help. We are asking for you to nominate someone you know that deserves this award.
To nominate a person, we ask that the nominee live within the immediate Osky News coverage area (Wapello, Japser, Poweshiek, Monroe, Keokuk, Marion, and Mahaska Counties), and that you include a brief description of their activities. We will then select the recipient and we will run a feature on that person. The Citizen of the Week Award will appear each Friday on Osky News.
This week we take a look at a local resident who volunteers countless hours to training and preparing to aid, not only the residents of Mahaska County, but our neighbors in other counties as well, should the need arise.
Jim Walker is ‘Captain’ of the Mahaska County CERT team, and helps to coordinate communication to the CERT Team. This helps Emergency Management be more efficient by only needing to make that initial call, allowing Emergency Management to focus on incoming and outgoing communication with other agencies.
He has attended CERT Training in Cedar Rapids, which helps people become CERT Instructors themselves. Walker and other members of CERT are also now certified to teach CPR, AED and First Aid, and Mass Causality training in Des Moines.
Since the start of CERT locally, Walker has probably donated 180 hours each year to the cause. Walker said much of that time is spent preparing the teams, and also working on building the group’s 501(C) non-profit status.
We give our thanks to Walker and the others in CERT for their many hours of volunteering to help keep Mahaska County prepared for an emergency situation.
