Want to help your community during an emergency? Madison County has a class for that!

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REXBURG — Madison County is hosting free, area-wide disaster preparedness CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training classes. Volunteers are invited to participate.
The course begins Wednesday, Sept. 13, and will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg. The course will take about 10 weeks to complete.
Graduates will receive a certificate of completion, and eligible graduates can apply to join the CERT team in their county. To be eligible for the Madison County CERT Program, applicants must be at least 14 years old. Youth may attend with parental permission.
The course covers a variety of topics including disaster preparedness, emergency communications, fire safety, disaster medical operations and victim triage (including Stop the Bleed), light search and rescue, disaster psychology and terrorism. There will also be a final disaster simulation where trainees respond to a simulated disaster using the skills they have learned.
There is no charge for this course, and it is open to all residents. Register by emailing madisoncert@gmail.com.
CERT History
The CERT program is a nationally recognized program administered by the Citizen Corps. CERT seeks to educate people about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills.
The CERT concept was developed and implemented by the Los Angeles City Fire Department in 1985. The Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987 underscored the area-wide threat of a major disaster in California. Further, it confirmed the need for training civilians to meet their immediate needs.
CERT became a national program in 1993. There are now CERT programs in all 50 states, including many tribal nations and U.S. territories. Each is unique to its community and all are essential to building a Culture of Preparedness in the United States. There are over 2,700 local CERT programs nationwide and more than 600,000 people have trained since CERT became a national program.
For more program information see the Eastern Idaho CERT website.
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Source: eastidahonews.com