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In its third year as an emergency response preparedness course on the Millersville campus, the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) prepares students, faculty and the community by training them to help themselves, their families and their neighbors during a disaster or emergency.
Made nationally available to residents through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and sponsored by and housed in the University’s Center for Disaster Research & Education (CDRE), the CERT program benefits the community by providing training in basic skills that they can use to be better prepared to handle a disaster during and after the event.
Shauna Stoy and Paul McGonigal, both first-year graduate students in emergency management (MSEM) at Millersville, a program offered through the CDRE, are co-managers of the CERT program. Stoy, who is also president of the student organization International Association for Emergency Managers (IAEM), is a student of the CERT training herself and understands how valuable the community training is. “After going through CERT training, you will be prepared to plan for disaster and respond to a disaster. You will have the knowledge and skills to prepare and protect yourself and your family if and when a disaster strikes,” Stoy said.
The four-week program is offered October 21 to November 20 this fall. Taught mainly by professionals of specific fields that correspond to lesson subject, course topics include fire safety, medical triage, basic first aid, disaster psychology, disaster triage and rescue, and detecting signs of terrorism. McGonigal, who is also a firefighter with Millersville Station #5 of Blue Rock Fire Rescue, believes everyone should know how to prepare themselves for a disaster. “When a large-scale incident happens, it could be a number of days before normalcy is restored, as we have seen with New Orleans and the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy,” McGonigal said.
Involved in emergency services for more than 30 years, Dr. Duane Hagelgans, assistant professor of emergency management, is on the advisory board for the CERT program. “The key to preparedness is that you hope you are always better prepared today than you were yesterday and you are always striving to get better,” said Hagelgans, who also serves on the South Central Pa Counter Terrorism Force (SCTF). “As part of disaster response, we study past events and get lessons learned to improve for the future.”
Improving disaster response for the future is an important priority. The University emergency management committee outlines a course of action for dealing with all types of disasters, and the plan that is updated every two years. “Disaster preparedness is not an area where you learn everything and you stop, it is a constant cycle of evaluation and improvement,” Hagelgans said. “By training citizens, such as through CERT, we can have more people prepared and able to take care of themselves and others, leaving the responders to handle the most serious incidents.”
The CDRE at Millersville University is a member of the Homeland Security Higher Education Consortium, Keystone Emergency Management Association, National Emergency Management Association, Emergency Management Higher Education Consortium and the International Association of Emergency Managers.
Classes are held Mondays and Wednesdays. Program fees are $15 for students and $25 for non-students. The program fee covers the cost of materials and a CERT T-shirt.
