Citizen saviors

WASILLA — If disaster strikes, Alaska will be critically short of trained responders.

That, said Beatrice Adler, is the principle behind CERT — Community Emergency Response Team — a program training regular citizens how to respond in emergency situations.

“The program is based in the idea that in a serious situation, the number of trained responders will be quickly overwhelmed,” Adler said. “Everybody has a responsibility to take care of themselves and the other people around them.”

The goal of CERT is to have people in neighborhoods and workplaces ready to help disaster relief efforts. The course consists of 20 hours of training, but the skills become part of the students’ identity, said Adler.

The curriculum consists of fire safety, search and rescue, team organization, disaster psychology and medical operations. At the end of the course is a simulated disaster to give the students hands-on experience.

On Friday afternoon, an earthquake struck Fire Station 65. In a room with no windows, the power went out. An unknown number of casualties were trapped among the overturned desks and collapsed ceiling.

In this simulated proving grounds with volunteers pretending to be injured, the CERT went to work.

Clad in green helmets and yellow vests, the CERT first assessed the outside of the building. Once they determined it was safe to enter, they called for the walking wounded.

Teams of two entered the building to do a systematic search. Responders performed triage on victims who could not move. They first introduced themselves, then asked permission to touch the patient.

Once a head-to-toe assessment was done, the patient was assigned a color based on the severity of their injuries. Group 1 with life-treating injuries were marked with red paper around their right wrists. Group 2 with minor injuries were given green bracelets. Patients dead on arrival were marked with black.

Adler warned that outward appearances can be deceiving.

“Patients could be bleeding internally, and we teach how to check for that,” Adler continued. “All of this is done in under a minute for each person.”

Once patients were sorted, the teams determined where they could do the most good in the least amount of time. Patients with clear exit paths were evacuated first.

The last victim in the room was pinned underneath a table said to weigh thousands of pounds. Two teams of two used a combination of wedges and levers to prop the table up, building a support system of two-by-fours as they raised it.

When he was finally dragged out and taken to the treatment room, the room was called all clear.

The CERT program is part of Citizen Corps, a nationwide effort to promote individual responsibility. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, CERT classes are offered at no cost to the participants.

Working from the Mat-Su Public Safety building in Wasilla, Adler administers CERT training around the Valley. Classes are normally held for businesses or organizations, but individuals are always welcome to join, she said.

The program began nationally in 1994, and this is the sixth year of training in the Valley. Adler said they passed the 500-people-trained mark two years ago, and she hopes 1,000 people will have gone through the training by this summer.

Contact Todd Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or (907) 352-2252.