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Citizens learn new skills, prepare for emergencies
By Eileen O. Daday
Daily Herald Correspondent
Posted Sunday, May 01, 2005
They worked with fire hoses and extinguishers, rescue procedures and triage, all while wearing hard hats and vests, and carrying emergency packs.
But these weren't firefighters and paramedics going through the paces Saturday. These were regular citizens from all walks of life, and if a natural disaster were to hit the Northwest suburbs, they just might help save your life.
The nearly 125 participants came from Arlington Heights, Palatine and Wauconda to the Palatine Park District community center for the drills. All had been trained within the last three years as Community Emergency Response Team members.
Palatine officials called it the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Challenge as a way to reinforce skills and spread the word to other communities about the unique partnership.
"We're operating under the premise that in the case of a natural disaster, the first responders would be too busy to handle all of the emergencies," said Tom Smith of Palatine, training coordinator.
He noted that if Palatine were to be rocked by a tornado, its 100 police officers, 90 firefighters and 90 public works employees would not be equipped to respond to the needs of the community's 68,000 residents without help.
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| PAUL BEATY/DAILY HERALD |
| Diane Ayers of Palatine gets help handling a firehose from Steve Trilling of Palatine and Arlington Heights firefighter Pete Ahlman during the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Challenge Saturday. |
"The intent is to train an emergency response team to help in the first 72 hours," Smith adds. "We teach them to take care of themselves and then their neighbors, friends and co-workers."
They are preparing for the day when a disaster may leave roads blocked and disrupt telephone communications.
"We are told to keep away from a manmade disaster," said Randy Hooper of Wauconda, pointing to such threats as a chemical or biological leak or a terrorist attack.
Volunteers rotated through stations that included rescuing victims using blanket carries, operating fire extinguishers and fire hoses, triage (assigning priorities during an emergency), knot tying, first aid and shoring up a collapsed area.
The challenge drew a variety of responders, from parents and children to adults interested in being involved in a citizen corps of volunteers.
"I was a Boy Scout leader so this is kind of the next step," said Kevin Corcoran of Arlington Heights. "You just develop this sort of mindset, that if there's an emergency you want to jump in there to help people."
Joe Lance of Palatine connected his involvement to the Sept. 11 attacks.
"After 9/11, it opened a lot of eyes," Lance said. "I was interested in community service, and about the process of how a community response team like this would work with the federal agencies and first responders to react to an emergency."
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