East Ridge at Cutler Bay Hosts CERT Training for its Residents

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Participants are pictured.

East Ridge at Cutler Bay is taking Hurricane season seriously, according to resident Jean Tong-Noon of the Cutler Ridge Woman’s Club.

“Virginia Yermoli of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) joined a team of East Ridge residents, management and associates during their intense FEMA CERT training,” Tong-Noon said.

The GFWC was founded in 1890 and is a federation of approximately 2,300 women’s clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service.

“I was honored to be invited by The Cutler Ridge Woman’s Club last weekend to participate in their FEMA Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training,” Yermoli said. “This program is a nationally supported, locally implemented initiative that teaches people how to better prepare themselves for hazards that may affect their communities.

“Since 1993, CERT trains the public in basic disaster response skills such as team organization, disaster medical operations, fire safety, and light search and rescue. The ability for CERT volunteers to perform these activities frees up professional responders to focus their efforts on more complex, essential and critical tasks.”

Yermoli was not able to participate during the entire three-day intense training sessions, but she did go one day to see first-hand how the program is taught. She was impressed.

“It was an impeccable presentation put together by East Ridge and the club president, Jean Tong-Noon, who is an incredible force to be contended with, not only in her club but the work she does throughout her community, and the CERT Program manager for Dade County, Jessica Sandoval, is not only committed to the program but looking for ways to adapt this training for schools, clubs and programs like human trafficking.”

Yermoli thought that the video presentations and hearing the speaker tell of the psychological aspects of witnessing any kind of disasters — how to cope, how to help others and the importance of what to say in these situations — was eye opening.

Participants lift an injured (simulated) person.

“Watching the physical part of the training was intense as well,” Yermoli said. “As I watched and learned, it occurred to me that this would be a program that all clubs across the nation could benefit from. In the times we are living in, being prepared for all kinds of emergencies is essential, not only to help the professional responders, but for you and your loved one’s safety.”

CERT training deals with hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados and other natural disasters.

“Unfortunately, we also have dealt with school shootings, church shootings, buildings collapsing and other things,” Tong-Noon said “Being prepared is something that will give you strength, whether you use it personally or to help others. Knowledge is power.”

CERT training is not only taught in the United States but also in many countries around the world. Visit FEMA’S website to learn how individuals, clubs and communities can benefit by taking advantage of this program. Go to https://community.fema.gov/PreparednessCommunity/s/welcome-to-cert?language=en_US.

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