Upcoming Community Emergency Response Team Training dates set

Media release: The Rome-Floyd County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) will be holding its next free certification class starting on March 10, 2012.　　

"In the past few months, local residents have seen the benefits directly of having an active CERT team," said Scotty Hancock, Floyd County Emergency Management Director. "Immediately after the recent weather events, our CERT team was on the ground assisting public safety officials with search and rescue. In the days and months afterwards, they remained on the ground with clean-up efforts, debris removal and notifying affected residents of the resources available." 　

The Rome-Floyd County CERT team has a roster of 300 members, with 174 actively participating in rescues and events all over the county.

"Even with this many volunteers, we can always use more," said Vicki Wiles, CERT Coordinator. "We welcome anyone with a spirit of volunteerism, dedication to getting a job done and a passion for helping people. We especially need CERT members that are fluent Spanish and sign-language."

CERT training promotes a partnering effort between emergency services and the people they serve. Everyone is welcome to volunteer and no prior emergency or medical training is required.　Members are trained in light search and rescue techniques, disaster preparedness, terrorism, medical treatment, team organization, disaster psychology, and then complete a final exercise using the skills just learned.　CERT members are then integrated into the emergency response capabilities for their area.　

Class dates are as follows:

Saturday, March 10th　　　　　8am- 4pm　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　 Floyd County Health Dept.

Saturday, March 17th　　　　　8am- 4pm　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　 Floyd County Health Dept.

Saturday, March 24th　　　　　8am- 1pm　 Fire Tower Training Center,　Graduation Exercise

Please complete the registration page to enroll http://www.floydcountycert.org/id5.html

Please note: allsessions must be attended in order to complete the 20 Certification.

　For more information, please visit www.floydcountycert.org, email floydcountycert@gmail.com or call 706.236.5002.

####