Students learn emergency management

When junior Mike Buehler first heard about the opportunity to fight fires, rescue victims of natural disasters and conduct search and rescues, he knew he wanted to get involved.\n"I was definitely interested right away," he said. \nBuehler learned about Community Emergency Response Teams, or CERTs, in his School of Public and Environment Affairs government operations class taught by Mark Brostoff, chair of the Monroe County Citizen Corps Council. The class discusses the history of emergency management by examining how communities respond to natural disasters and other emergencies, such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. \nIn addition to the class, Brostoff offered students the chance to join the CERT program, which trains volunteers in basic emergency response techniques such as fire suppression, search and rescue, triage and preparedness. CERT is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the MCCC.\nFourteen students are currently involved in the 21-hour, non-University credit CERT course, which they must take in addition to the SPEA class. The training lasts for four or five hours each weekend, with the last class to be completed April 9. \nIt's important for people to acquire this knowledge because it could save lives, Brostoff said.\n"What would happen in the first 72 hours after a disaster if emergency responders were unable to get to a community immediately?" Brostoff said. \nCERT was created "to make the community safer in response to a disaster," he said.\nBrostoff said on a campus of 38,000, preparing students for emergency or disaster situations is a must. His motivation for involving them in CERT came after three students died and one was injured in a fire last May in their off-campus house. The cause of the fire was most likely audio and video electrical equipment. \n"(We) could reduce those hazards in student housing," he said, adding that burning candles and overloading extension cords top his list of safety no-nos. "I think getting more and more students involved in that could hopefully save lives in the future."\nStudents in CERT learn how to give basic first aid, put out small fires, find people trapped in buildings and classify a victim's injury before first responders such as firemen and EMTs arrive on the scene.\n"We learn how to locate and shut off utilities like gas and electric. Not like we're climbing up on telephone poles or anything, but (we learn) where the circuit breakers are," said junior Michael Agnew, a CERT trainee.\nAgnew and his classmates also learn disaster psychology, which explains how to approach people who have recently lost loved ones. \nThough Bloomington rarely sees tragedies like the fire last May, the potential for an accident is always there, Agnew said. \n"I think some people think we might be taking it a little too far," Agnew said of the training. "I think a lot of people would think (CERT) is kind of dumb. 'When is there going to be some major disaster?' (But) for like four classes ... it's not that much you're giving up in exchange for some knowledge that will last forever."\nHaving locals trained in emergency response also prevents further injuries caused by inexperienced volunteers trying to help in disaster situations, Buehler said.\n"I just think it can't hurt to have the knowledge for yourself," he said. "We need more people to be trained. Usually when a disaster happens, people volunteer but they don't know what they're doing, and it's those people who end up getting hurt."\nOne of the responsibilities of MCCC, which sponsors CERT, is promoting volunteerism and educating the community about preparing itself for disasters. To do so, Brostoff has enlisted the help of the American Red Cross, firefighters and guest speakers such as Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan. \nBrostoff and his co-teachers went through CERT training and completed an additional 20-hour program to be able to teach it to students. He and trainer John Hooker, the director of Monroe County Emergency Management, are responsible for notifying CERTs if a disaster should occur in Bloomington. \nThere are two ways CERTs can be used to assist the community in an emergency: Team members can activate themselves, meet at a predetermined spot to assess the situation -- what CERT calls a size-up -- and begin going over protocols they have been taught. \nThe alternative to self-activation is to be called up by Hooker, who would get in touch with the team leader to give instructions about deployment. \nCERTs carry with them to every disaster site backpacks supplied by grants from Homeland Security. Each pack contains about $125 worth of emergency response materials, which students keep with them after finishing the program. \nThere is still one more class until graduation, after which the team will respond to a simulated disaster situation at the Bloomington Township Fire Department that will test the skills they have learned.\nThough Agnew said he feels prepared for the simulation, the hands-on experience is much different than discussing disaster situations in a classroom. CERT's motto is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people, and getting practical experience is an essential part of learning to do that. \n"I'm not really nervous about encountering the (simulated disaster) situation," he said. "Hopefully I don't screw up." \nAgnew said he is grateful to have gotten involved in the course because it can help him as a residential advisor and in the field of emergency management, which he hopes to enter when he graduates next year. \n"(I) definitely wouldn't ever think about not doing it," he said. "You get the cool little backpack, the vest, the helmet ... I mean, come on, who would want to pass that up?"\n-- Contact Staff Writer Colleen Corley at ccorley@indiana.edu.