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The CCARES Citizen Corps Council welcomes the latest Community Emergency Response Team to join us in community disaster preparedness, the LoGuidice BOCES Team. 80 Criminal Justice and Nursing Program students from the school completed the 20-hour FEMA curriculum during April. The course, led by the Divisional Director of Disaster Services for the Salvation Army, Leslie Vattimo, covered basic disaster preparedness, the Incident Command System, CERT organization, search and rescue, hazardous material and terrorist incidents, and disaster psychology. With tremendous support from BOCES staff and teachers, Leslie and her team of CERT instructors were able to deliver these quality classes as part of their specialty program curriculum.
The CCARES Citizen Corps program began delivering the CERT curriculum to BOCES students in Chautauqua County in 2008, and since then has delivered hundreds of hours of disaster and emergency preparedness instruction to Criminal Justice and Nursing Program students. We thank all of our community partners and supporters who make this important educational opportunity possible, with special thanks to the Chautauqua County Office of Emergency Services for their support to the program.
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The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.
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