New Sharon Teen CERT Team Welcomes New Members
The New Sharon Teen CERT Members got an opportunity to learn many different skills during their training.
New Sharon- What would happen if a mass causality event happened in our area, much like it has in places like Joplin, Missouri? How would police and fire services be able to deal with such a large event? CERT would be there to stand next to them with vital training, knowledge and the ability to assist.
New Sharon High School has their own student CERT Team, and they continue to train and replace members as others graduate and or go inactive for various reasons.
For the past 2 weeks, Jamey Robinson, Mahaska County Emergency Manager has been working on training old and new members of the New Sharon Teen CERT Team. Members of the Teen CERT Team traveled to Des Moines to visit the Emergency Operations Center [EOC] where they ran a scenario of a tornado hitting Oskaloosa to learn what they needed to do and how they would respond.
The group also visited the National Weather Service in Johnston on Tuesday. Jeff Johnson, Senior Meteorologist and Warning Coordinator took the group on a full tour so the group had a better understanding of how the NWS would integrate into emergency warning. “Some of the kids were like ‘WOW, that’s a lot to take in’, some of the kids were like ‘WOW, that’s what I want to do’.” Robinson said of the different reactions the members had.
The new members have been training in everything from disaster psychology, CPR, disaster response, to different command systems and how that would function in the event of a disaster, and how Mahaska County would put their services to use during a disaster.
The skills learned are not lost after leaving school. Many of the seniors that will be attending local colleges will be utilizing these skills in their new locations; such as Indian Hills. Robinson explained that many colleges look at this type of training, but also the fact that they volunteer. If your interested in CERT and it’s program you can contact Jamey Robinson at the Emergency Management Office. www.mahaskaready.com.
Austin Witt, a member of the Teen CERT Team in New Sharon said, “I like to volunteer for things, I like to help people.” as a reason for him joining the CERT Team. Some of his favorite things he has enjoyed learning are CPR and putting out fires. Witt said that he likes both the firefighting and law enforcement, so his experience with CERT may help him determine what course he may choose in the end.
Chris Shaw, also a member of the Teen CERT Team in New Sharon, said the part of CERT he enjoys the most is fire suppression and search and rescue. Shaw says his reasons for wanting to volunteer is the “need to want to help people and train to eventually become a state trooper”.
Michael Van Rheenen, of the New Sharon CERT Team, said that they had studied this type of training, but it was the first time they had actually used it this way. Van Rheenen said he is unsure of his career path, but even if he doesn’t join some emergency field, “even if I don’t go to that (emergency field), if there’s a disaster in my town, I can still help.”
John Colligan is the Adviser for the North Mahaska CERT Team. “Community Service, Leadership” are some qualities he sees students taking away from the training. “During the daytime if we have a disaster, we don’t have enough people in the fire department. They are going to have to come from outside, back from work, so these kids will have to take care of things in the school building.” Cooligan said of the positive resource the Teen CERT Team would be.
Members of the New Sharon Teen CERT Team practice a scenario at the State Emergency Operations Center (photo submitted)
Members of the New Sharon Teen CERT Team pose for a group photo at the State Emergency Operations Center (photo submitted)
New Sharon Teen CERT members tour the National Weather Service Office in Johnston. (photo submitted)
The New Sharon Teen CERT Team poses for a photo outside of the National Weather Service Office in Johnston (photo submitted)
