C.E.R.T. Assistance - Red Cross Shelter

EDIT: As of 12:30 p.m. Sunday 8/31, CC C.E.R.T. is on stand down. The clients expected to arrive by plane are not expected now. Occupation of up to 100 is possible, limited to those who self-evacuated to this area. Thank you to all CC C.E.R.T. folks who came out to assist, and all of the other volunteers. If you would like to check on the need for C.E.R.T. assistance at the shelter, please contact the Red Cross at 417-832-9500. Please monitor amateur radio, e-mail and this site case C.E.R.T. is needed for anything else.

With the track of Hurricane Gustav still pushing over the gulf states, operations have started at The Red Cross. We are preparing for clients to arrive from the affected areas. The Red Cross has set up a shelter at Remington's. The address is 1655 West Republic Road, Springfield MO.

Christian County C.E.R.T. volunteers are needed to assist with shelter operations. Currently the shelter is ready to receive clients.

CC C.E.R.T. will remain in stand-by mode, however shelter assistance is needed. Some duties will be handled by those certified by the Red Cross in Shelter Operations, however, please keep in mind that clients may be here for an extended stay, and C.E.R.T. can assist with some duties without certification.

If you can help please contact the Red Cross at 417-832-9500. Please identify yourself as Christian County C.E.R.T. and bring your credentials with you to the shelter. If you have any questions, please contact Ed Hultgren on his cell phone (listed in e-mails he sends out).

If you would like to certify in Shelter Operations, there will be training on Tuesday. If interested, contact the Red Cross at the above phone number. The training is free and lasts approximately 6 hours.

Stay tuned to http://www.cccert.org and e-mail for further details.

CC C.E.R.T. Help Needed - Sun. 8/31/08

With the track of Hurricane Gustav still pushing over the gulf states, operations have started at The Red Cross. We are preparing for clients to arrive from the affected areas. The Red Cross has set up a shelter at Remington's. The address is 1655 West Republic Road, Springfield MO.

Christian County C.E.R.T. volunteers are needed at 10a.m. Sunday 8/31 to assist with setup. Currently the shelter is being prepared for 500-600 clients, with the anticipation that the area could receive up to 5000.

Once setup is complete, CC C.E.R.T. will remain in stand-by mode. The shelter is scheduled to open at noon on Sunday. Once occupied, shelter assistance will be handled by those certified by the Red Cross in Shelter Operations. However, please keep in mind that clients may be here for an extended stay, and C.E.R.T. should remain ready to assist if it is requested. There will be quite a bit to do should Hurricane Gustav reach maximum potential.

If you can help Sunday, please be at Remington's by 10 a.m. Sunday 8/31. Please identify yourself as Christian County C.E.R.T. If you have any questions, please contact Ed Hultgren on his cell phone (listed in e-mails he sends out).

Stay tuned to http://www.cccert.org and e-mail for further details.

CC C.E.R.T. Assistance Needed - Sat. 8/30/08

With the track of Hurricane Gustav still pushing over the gulf states, operations have started at The Red Cross. We are preparing for clients to arrive from the areas expected to be affected. The Red Cross is currently in the process of loading cots and blankets in a trailer to be delivered to a single shelter located at Remington's. The address is 1655 West Republic Road, Springfield MO.

Christian County C.E.R.T. volunteers are needed at 3p.m. today (Saturday 8/30) to set up the cots and the shelter. Currently the shelter is being prepared for 500-600 clients.

Once setup is complete, CC C.E.R.T. will remain in stand-by mode. The shelter is scheduled to open at noon on Sunday. The Red Cross currently has the manpower for shelter operations. However, please keep in mind that if a shelter is needed, clients may be here for an extended stay, and it's likely further assistance from Christian County C.E.R.T. will be requested.

If you can help today at 3pm, contact Perry at 417-839-3990. He is the lead volunteer coordinator for the shelter. Identify yourself as Christian County C.E.R.T. with Perry, and he will check you in as a volunteer so that you can assist at Remington's. This is mandatory for C.E.R.T. volunteers who will be assisting.

If you can, please give Ed Hultgren a call on his cell phone (listed in e-mails he sends out) and let him know you've checked in with Perry.

Stay tuned to http://www.cccert.org and e-mail for further details.

Local C.E.R.T. and Hurricane Gustav

Christian County EMA and our contacts at the Red Cross and Dept Homeland Security have contacted me and asked if I would pass the word to you so here’s the latest.

With TS Gustav heading toward the gulf states and looking like it will become a major Hurricane, Evacuation plans are being put into effect. Part of that plan includes the State of Missouri and specifically South Western MO.

The Springfield area including Christian co, may receive between 1000 and 5000 evacuees from the New Orleans area. They may start moving as soon as Saturday evening or Sunday. FEMA told us that we’ll have 12 hours notice to get ready. Most likely, if they come they will start showing up late Sunday and Monday.

CERT members, and those who’ve not yet been through the training, have expressed a desire to help in times of emergencies and I’d say this qualifies.

Because so many Red Cross people have been deployed to the Gulf, Our role as CERT members will be to assist in Shelter Operations and Logistics in this area.

What does this mean? If and or when these shelters are opened, they need to be manned 24 hrs a day. We need many of you to volunteer, if deployed, for some of these shifts.

We’ll know details later, this is a call to prepare for possible deployment in our area.

Other tasks that will need to be covered will be, helping in the Red Cross ware house in Springfield, Distribution and transportation of food, water, cots and other necessities to shelters etc. P/Us & Trailers

Please email me if you can help us, if we’re activated, to cover some of these needs. It will be part time because you’re still volunteers but we’ll need you if all these folks show up here. Please help me keep track of your hours if we’re Deployed. This helps the county out in a big way when all the paper work is being done through FEMA later.

I especially need Shelter Ops trained folks to let me know what they can do.

Thanks ahead of time for stepping up, Looking forward to hearing from you.

Ed Hultgren
Christian County CERT Coordinator

Click HERE to contact Ed.

First Responder Course

For those interested, we are putting together another First Responder Course. If you do not have a current CPR card, that is offered in a separate time frame, at the same place by the same trainers, thanks again Mae. I believe that the length of this free course is 40 hrs. and will be held at the ambulance barn in Ozark, east on 14 towards Sparta about 1 mile on the right behind the funeral home- no connection.

Normally it’s done on Tue and Thur evenings from 6 till 10. Included are things like, basic anatomy, oxygen bottle use, circulatory system, trauma of various kinds, emergency medicine, etc.

You must have CERT training before you can take this course. During this course, you will see how CERT training built a foundation for First Responder course. First Responder course is much more involved than CERT and is all medical, no repelling from helicopters, no chainsaws, no fire suppression- that I can remember. Please let me know if you are interested and we’ll set one up for late Oct or early Nov.

September C.E.R.T. Training - Ozark, MO

There is a C.E.R.T. training coming up in September in Ozark, MO. This will take place at the Ozark First Baptist Church at 1400 West Jackson St. Here is the schedule:

Sept 19 Fri:
6pm - 9pm Unit 1

Sept 20 Sat:
9 - 1130 Unit 2
1130 – 1230 Lunch
1230 - 215 Unit 6
300 – 400 Unit 7

Sept 26 Fri:
600 – 900 Unit 8

Sept 27 Sat:
9 - 1130 Unit 3
1130 – 1230 Lunch
1230 – 300 Unit 4
300 – 530 Unit 5

Contact Ed Hultgren for any questions or to sign up for this training.

Train The Trainer Course - October 2008

For all of those interested in becoming a CERT trainer, please check out this web site and register. If that’s too much just put in FY2008 Training schedule and go to Oct 26 click on it, read it and REGISTER! It’s right here in Springfield. We need more trainers! The class size is usually limited to around 30 so hurry. There are more and more folks wanting to take the CERT course and we’ll have to turn some away soon.

Thank you so much.