Bellaire Family Health Center continues to support the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Antrim County by providing Jump Bags for team members. These bags include First Aid Kits, Pocket Masks, and Tourniquets to volunteers for use in an emergency.
Antrim County’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) are known and trusted resources to emergency responders and their communities. Made up of community members trained to help themselves, their family, and their neighbors in the event of a disaster or emergency, they also help their communities year-round by assisting with exercises, safety education and preparedness outreach.
Under the direction of the County Emergency Services Coordinator, CERT helps provide critical support by giving immediate assistance to victims, providing damage assessment information, and organizing other volunteers at a disaster site.
Volunteers trained in CERT also offer a potential workforce for performing duties such as shelter support, crowd control, evacuations, and search & rescue. The role of the CERT volunteer is to help others until trained emergency personnel arrive.
The CERT concept was developed and implemented by the Los Angeles Fire Dept. in 1985 after the Whittier Narrows earthquake devastated the area. This confirmed the need for training civilians to meet their immediate needs in the event of a disaster.
Since then, CERT’s have been established in hundreds of communities worldwide.
Antrim County’s CERT Team is made up of 40 community members trained in Disaster Preparedness, Search & Rescue, Team organization and more. Most recently, the CERT Team was imperative to the Health Department of Northwest Michigan’s Vaccine Clinics where volunteers assisted with setup, parking, and greeters.
To learn more about CERT, contact Antrim County Emergency Service Coordinator, Leslie Meyers, at 533-6569.
“Antrim County CERT members gather after Tuesday’s ‘Storm Spotter Class’ presented by Antrim County Emergency Services.”
“Shannon Buntjer, Antrim County CERT Co-Leader, receives her bag from Bellaire Family Health Center”
