We had a fantastic February meeting and training class! From traffic control to emergency communications, our night was teeming with new information! The meeting ran longer than expected, but everyone was very gracious about it with our teachers!
First, we had Officer James Chapman of the Osage Beach Police Department come in to teach us about traffic control for events. He had numerous tips including stances (Bladed and Head on), equipment we should wear (safety vest, flashlight or traffic wands, and a whistle), and techniques for directing drivers (point at them, make eye contact, flat palm to stop, and give clear directions). He also told us to make sure we stop ALL traffic before allowing lanes to turn and to make sure turning cars crossed in FRONT of us, not behind. We want to offer a huge thank you and express our excitement to have the OBPD involved in the training of our CERT!
After that, our Public Information Officer (PIO), Samantha Henley led a class in basic emergency communications. Bruce Bell (our Operations Officer) and Sam’s daughter, Renee, assisted in demonstrating how to use the radios the Camden County EMA provides to our group to use during emergency and non-emergency situations. Samantha serves as the Deputy Director of the Benton County Emergency Management Agency, as well as the Emergency Coordinator for the Benton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (BC ARES).
The basic emergency communications class was in a beta test. Our group helped to make some adjustments to the course, which will now be launched in Benton County for their CERT. We were quite excited to be in on the ground floor of building this great entry-level course.
The course itself took the time to describe the parts of the handheld radio which our team members would use, how to use them, and then launched into the differences between proper and improper message passing. We learned about describing a scene and survivors as well as we can, because the people on the other end of the radio do not see what we see. They can only make decisions based on how well we report.
Our Resources page has been updated with the files from last night’s training.
CERT Coordinator Bob Reiske is also seeking volunteers to assist with parking and tending the booths at the Lake Expo. For information and to volunteer, please contact Bob at 573-216-4888 or email him at bob@lakeozarksrealestate.com as soon as possible.
We have more training and events scheduled during the 2019 year and you can check our calendar for more information.