CERT is a program that helps citizens to be trained and prepared to meet their own needs in the event of an emergency. The Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security is collaborating with Cities, Towns, Indian Nations, Fire Districts and Volunteer Fire Departments, Hospitals and other private and public agencies in Pima County to coordinate and promote this training to businesses, neighborhoods and citizens. This training is free to the public.

Following a disaster, First Responders who provide fire and medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. Factors such as number of victims, communication failures, and road blockages will prevent people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moments' notice through the 911 service. The citizens may have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs.

Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (PCOEMHS) is working with the Arizona Division of Emergency Management (ADEM) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to promote and coordinate Citizen Corps programs. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is one of four Citizen Corps programs. The CERT training curriculum is reviewed and accepted by the National Fire Academy. The goal is to have citizens participate in making their communities better prepared for dealing with different types of disasters - "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE". Training is provided to citizens concerning emergency preparedness and basic response techniques.

We are members of the Southeastern Arizona Regional Citizen Corps Councils. This council is made up of the following five counties: Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Santa Cruz, and Pima.

Within Pima County we collaborate with your local Citizen Corp Council in the following areas: Green Valley, Catalina, Ajo, Robles Junction, City of Tucson Town of Marana, Town of Oro Valley, and the City of South Tucson

The Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security manages the CERT Train-the-Trainer (instructor) program requests and coordinate classes for CERT training with the Arizona Division of Emergency Management

Upon request our office will provide the following materials based on availability:
•CERT Course Handbook
•CERT Instructor Guidelines and training aids:
· safety equipment
· medical supplies
· fire extinguishers
· cribbing

Upon completion of the 20 hour program our office will issue a certification on behalf of the Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, the Arizona Division of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

The focus of the free training is normally delivered in eight 2 ½ hour blocks as follows:

Emergency Preparedness
	Disaster workers, threats, impact on the infrastructure, structural and non-structural hazards, and hazard mitigation
Fire Safety
	Fire chemistry, hazardous materials, reducing hazards, CERT size up, firefighting resources safety, and fire suppression
Emergency Medical-Part I
	Recognizing and treating life threatening conditions and triage
Emergency Medical-Part II
	Organization of disaster medical operations, head-to-toe assessments; establishing treatment areas; treating burns; wound care;, treating fractures;, sprains; and strains splinting; hypothermia; frostbite and public health considerations
Light Search and Rescue Operations
	Planning; size-up, conducting search/rescue; and cribbing techniques
CERT Organization
	Decision-making; documentation; and tabletop exercise
Disaster Psychology
	Teams Well-being, working with survivors' of disasters or emergency situations
Terrorism and CERT
	Define and identify terrorism, B-NICE indicators
Course Review and Disaster Simulation
	Final exam; course review; disaster simulation; and exercise critique and summar

In order to meet the goal of "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE", we will need to generate interest in the need for a CERT Team in your area of the County.

The Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will offer a brief presentation of the course to groups in the community, and the training may be arranged in order to meet your needs.

Once a group decides to obtain CERT training It's as simple as contacting the Pima County Office of Emergency Management at (520) 798-0600 and ask for the CERT Coordinator who is working with local Citizen Corps Councils. There is no fee for this training course.

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