Federal Emergency Management Agency, using the model created by the Los Angeles City Fire Dept. began promoting nationwide use of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) concept on 1994. Since then, CERT's have been established in hundreds of communities. CERTs are formed by members of a church, neighborhood, workplace or school who want to be better prepared for the hazards that threaten their areas. CERT training promotes a partnering effort between emergency services and the people that they serve. The goal is for emergency personnel to train  members of neighborhoods, community organzations or workplaces in basic response skiils. CERT members are then integrated into emergency response capability for their area. If a disastrous event overwhelms or delays the community's professional response, CERT members can assit others by applying the basic response and organizational skills that they learned during training. These skills can help save and sustain lives following a disaster until help arrives.

Want to learn more about being a part of CERT, and the next training class date. Just

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Louisa County CERT is a partnership between Volunteers of Louisa, Louisa County Emergency Services and the American Red Cross.

For more details about the national CERT and Citizen Corps programs, visit the main web site www.citizencorps.gov/cert/index.shtm.