TEEN CERT Program Training Residents of Wentzville and Area Boy Scout Troops

The City of Wentzville, Wentzville Fire Protection District, and Boy Scout Troop 968 will host an adult and teen emergency preparedness training course, taught through the Mid America Teen Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. The class will be conducted the weekend of September 30–October 2, 2016 at Wentzville Fire Protection District Station #3, located at 1146 Clinton Prinster Memorial Drive in Foristell.

This course is open to residents of Wentzville and surrounding communities, schools and service groups or organizations, such as HOSA, NHS, Boy/Girl Scouts, 4-H, etc. Mid America educates teen and adult students how to assist in the event of an emergency or natural disaster; in fact, more than one-third of the programs’ 1500+ graduates are 18 years and older; students must be at least 12 years old to participate in the training. The TEEN CERT program, which trains on average seven to eight classes a year, currently has a 4-year backlog to take the course.

Throughout the 24-hour training, students learn how to handle medical emergencies, extinguish live fires and perform extensive student searches. Most importantly, students learn to manage stress, assist with peers and people with special and functional physical needs, and recognize signs and symptoms of disaster-related psychological issues. The class culminates with a full-scale, real-time, life-like simulated disaster exercise that will showcase the newly learned emergency skills of the students.

CERT educates individuals about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT volunteers can assist others in their community following a disaster when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT volunteers are also encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking an active role in emergency preparedness projects.

Last year, the City of Wentzville voted to collaborate with the Mid America TEEN CERT program, in order to offer the community more options for citizen awareness and emergency preparation training, Mayor Nick Guccione hopes that by MATC partnering with the Wentzville Police Department CERT, both teen and adult citizens can now take the training, and will help Wentzville strengthen its overall community preparedness.

One thing that makes MATC unique is that the standard curriculum also includes additional disaster-related topics, such as requirements from several Boy Scout and Girl Scout merit and interest project badges. For example, in addition to a Boy Scout receiving a state-issued TEEN CERT certificate of program completion, they have the opportunity to earn their Emergency Preparedness, First Aid, Fire Safety, Safety, Disabilities Awareness, Search and Rescue and Wilderness Survival merit badges. Girl Scouts can earn interest project badges in Emergency Preparedness, Outdoor Survival, Backpacking and Camping.

In May, Mid America was chosen for the second year straight as the number one Emergency Preparedness Program and Youth Program in Missouri and the number one Child and Youth Emergency Preparedness Program and Outstanding Achievement in Youth Preparedness in America.

For more information about the aforementioned class, contact Cheryl Zink at cherylzink@me.com or 636-459-5148. To learn more about upcoming CERT and TEEN CERT classes, please contact Joseph Right at the Wentzville Police Department, Joseph.Right@wentzvillemo.org, or Mark Rosenblum at Mark.Rosenblum@outlook.com. You can also visit Mid America on Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/MIDAMERICATEENCERT/ for more information.