The Lamorinda Community Emergency Response Team offers a free CERT training for residents of Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Canyon and Saint Mary's College. The training takes place at Saint Mary's College and starts on February 3rd 2010. Graduates will be sworn in as Disaster Service Worker Volunteers. Classes begin on February 3rd. Please sign up now for this exciting training.

Moraga, CA, January 02, 2010 --(PR.com)-- The Lamorinda Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is looking for new trainees to assist local emergency services and the communities of Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Canyon and Saint Mary’s in case of an emergency or a disaster.

"CERT training promotes partnership between emergency services and the people they serve," said CERT coordinator Frans Hoffman. "The goal is for citizens in different neighborhoods, community organizations and workplaces to acquire basic disaster response skills which they can then use in a disaster either to help themselves and their families or to help their community by assisting emergency personnel."

“In 2009 residents of Lamorinda have talked a lot about real and perceived issues with fire and police. Joining CERT is a great opportunity to go from talk to action and to become part of the solution. Our next CERT Training will start February 3, 2010.” CERT Training will take place in six sessions that will last three hours each.

"The first unit, Disaster Preparedness, prepares you for the situation," Hoffman said. "Unit two, Fire Safety, gives you the fundamentals to survive in the event there is a fire." The third unit, Disaster Medical Operations, teaches triage and treating life-threatening injuries, while the fourth unit, also named Disaster Medical Operations, deals with assessment, treatment and hygiene.

During the fifth unit, Light Search and Rescue, trainees will learn the fundamentals of operations and size up. The sixth unit, CERT Organization, deals with organizing and deploying safely and efficiently.

In unit seven, Disaster Psychology, trainees will learn how to care for themselves, their friends and the victims, and during the unit eight, Terrorism and CERT, the trainee will deal with what terrorism is and what to do to help themselves and their country.

“Lamorindans are justifiably proud to have one of the more advanced CERT organizations in the Bay Area. Lamorinda CERT has updated the FEMA provided training materials and has pioneered additional training units, such as Communications (unit 9) and Pets in Disasters (unit 10).” The last session is followed by a final exercise, which is a hands-on practical simulation.

In collaboration with the American Red Cross Lamorinda CERT has developed Advanced CERT training for human emergency shelters. This complements their flagship training, the Disaster Animal Response Team, which focuses on setting up emergency animal shelters. These and other training opportunities are available to anyone who graduates from the basic CERT training.

Anyone interested in obtaining more information about the CERT training can visit the Lamorinda CERT web site at http://LamorindaCERT.org They can also sign up on the web site for the next CERT training, which begins on February 3rd.