Detroit empowers individuals through emergency response training program
Anyone who wants to learn how to help in an emergency can take advantage of an opportunity being offered by Detroit officials to become a member of the Community Emergency Response Team.
A group of people sat inside a classroom at the Eastside Community Network in Detroit on Saturday. Cynthia Johnson listens intently as instructors talk about rescue resources.
"Everybody's here for different reasons, but the overall goal is to help the community," Johnson said.
She remembers a time when things were out of her control.
"I'm from the generation where I remember National Guards on the street during the riots," Johnson said.
She was motivated to join the CERT to never feel that way again.
"I feel like there's something brewing. I don't know what that is, and so I wanted to be able to communicate," Johnson said.
The city offers a four-day CERT training course quarterly.
Due to high demand, there are plans to offer the opportunity again next month.
"I think because of the changes in government, the downsizing of the government at large, the reduction of assistance from FEMA and other health agencies," Robert Brown, CERT program coordinator, said, "people are looking for a venue or an aspect of becoming more self-reliant."
Twenty hours of training are provided in eight different disciplines, including disaster management and what to do during a terrorist attack.
"Until the first responders arrive on scene, they are there, and they know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, and that is the information that we are providing them in the communities," Brown said.
In addition to reading and taking notes, volunteers put into practice what they learn with exercises like a mock search and rescue.
"The overall theme was, do the greatest good in the shortest amount of time with the greatest number of people," Johnson said.
Backpacks labeled with "CERT" signal an individual is certified and ready to help when called upon.
"It's a phenomenal training and I recommend that as many people as possible get connected," Johnson said.
