Hello, all!
Sam here! Previously, you may have known me as the Public Information Officer for the group, certified CERT trainer, or even the radio lady who popped in to teach radio communications during emergencies. I am still doing all of that, but I have donned a new hat as the Assistant Director of the Camden County, MO Emergency Management Agency! I can’t wait to work with you all in this new role!
First, Ron and I would like to thank each and every one of you who came to the meeting last night! We were blown away by the response! We appreciate you taking the time to come out and go through the temperature screenings and masking up!
This update will be kind of long, since we covered SO MUCH. We want to make sure that those who couldn’t attend are brought up to date on what is happening with the group.
Events
There are a few events and dates coming up with which we need your help. Dan has the sign up sheets and information for the dates and times on these. Please feel free to call him at (515) 210-7555 or email him at danmalloy.gsd@gmail.com to volunteer.
NEW COORDINATOR NEEDED
The most important item we covered last night was our need for a new coordinator. We stressed that this person does NOT need to have all of the training and certifications already, we will be happy to help you with those, but instead we are focusing on finding a highly motivated individual with a giving heart who wants to help us move forward to develop our CERT and the CERT program for Camden County. This person will help to build bridges with first responder agencies, our partners in the private sector, and other government agencies. If you are interested in being considered for the position, I would love to speak with you! Please feel free to email me at sam_henley@camdenmo.org for inquiries, questions, or to volunteer!!!
Meetings/Training
A vote was taken last night on the dates and time of our monthly meetings. They will be in-person meetings (unless clearly stated otherwise) at the EMA office. They will be held on the first Tuesday of each month and will begin promptly at 6 pm. They will also have a set agenda and the training for each meeting will be publicized prior to the meeting.
With that being said, our next meeting will be on August 4th at 6 pm. The training topic will be Traffic Control. The police department giving the training may need us to meet at their office, so please standby for the location update.
Several people have mentioned specific refreshers needed such as paperwork, radio communications, first aid, and traffic control. Your input is VITAL! We definitely want to know what you feel you need more training for so we can arrange future training for you!
One of the requests also included bringing a full scale exercise to the CC MO CERT similar to ones I run over in Benton County called ARRL’s Simulated Emergency Test (SET) and other exercises. The SET posits a scenario in which teams of CERT members and amateur radio operators are dispatched to different areas of the county to gather real-time data on how our response and communications may work during emergencies. Several CC MO CERT members participated in last year’s SET and other training with the BC MO CERT. Here is a page with information about the SET: BC ARES SET 2019 and the BC MO CERT photo page showing some of the training/events in which they have been involved: BC MO CERT Photos. If you are interested in these kinds of training and exercises, let us know!
Once again, I look forward to working with all of you!!!