Following a major disaster, police, fire and other medical professionals may not be able to fully meet service demands. People will have to rely on each other to meet immediate life-saving and life-sustaining needs, particularly in isolated neighborhoods that may be cut off from main roads for a period of time.
Richard Johnson is the Emergency Operations coordinator for the City of Signal Hill and coordinates the CERT classes. Please contact Mr. Johnson regarding the CERT schedule at (562) 989-7239 or rjohnson@signalhillpd.org.
Map Your Neighborhood is another valuable tool and is simple, quick and effective. Where other citizen disaster-response programs can take weeks to complete, Map Your Neighborhood takes approximately 90 minutes. The program is delivered by neighbors to neighbors in the home. One neighbor takes a simple and quick facilitator training provided by Signal Hill, collects the materials (again provided by the city) needed for the program, invites their neighbors to attend a meeting in the facilitator’s home and delivers the programs content.
The materials provided by the city include: a Map Your Neighborhood disaster-response “shingle” that details the Nine Steps as well as other resources to be used before, during and after a disaster; a CD that contains all of the forms and printed material needed for the program; and a DVD containing the guided program segments that take you and your neighbors through the entire process of preparation and response, including an exercise to run with your newly organized neighborhood response team.
The materials are available at the Signal Hill Community Services Department, 2175 Cherry Ave. or by calling (562) 989-7330. The DVD is returned when finished and the shingles and CD are yours to keep and distribute as needed.
To sign up for a facilitator training session, please contact Richard Johnson at (562) 989-7239 or rjohnson@signalhillpd.org.
With just a couple of weeks left in the 21 Weeks to Prepare Program, I hope your emergency kit has grown and will now assist and sustain you in the event of an emergency.
Here is your shopping list for Week 19:
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