OEMC Sending Team to Participate in Statewide Emergency Response Challenge

The Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) is sending a team of twelve volunteers trained in disaster response techniques to compete in the second annual Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Prairie State Challenge. The event takes place on Saturday, October 1st, 2011, at the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy in Glenview, Illinois.

The CERT Prairie State Challenge allows team members to demonstrate the hands-on skills they have learned during their training course, including triage, treatment and transport of victims, search and rescue operations, and fire/hazmat materials identification. Last year, the Chicago CERT team finished third out of fifteen teams. A total of twelve teams are registered to compete this year.

The CERT concept was originally developed by the Los Angeles City Fire Department in 1985 as a way to train civilians to understand their responsibility to prepare for, and respond to, an emergency. Today, there are more than 1,830 active CERT programs in nearly every state and US territory.

In Chicago, trained instructors from the OEMC and Chicago Police Department teach local residents basic hands-on disaster response techniques. Upon completion of the class, participants have the option to become a Chicago Citizens Corps CERT volunteer and assist professional emergency services following a disaster. Past participants have played a role in emergency exercises and assisted the City during the recovery and evacuee welcome efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

For more information about the CERT Prairie State Challenge, please visit http://www.ready.illinois.gov/citizencorps/.

To receive more information on upcoming CERT training classes, please visit www.AlertChicago.com.

To register for emergency notifications, subscribe to Notify Chicago at www.alertchicago.com. People with disabilities or seniors can sign up for the Voluntary Emergency Assistance Registry at OEMC's website at www.cityofchicago.org/oemc