One hundred people in higher education know more about dealing with campus and regional emergencies following a training program held at Georgetown Sept. 16-18.

A U.S. Department of Education grant allowed the university to host the first of what will be four, 100-person Campus Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training sessions.

The sessions are held in partnership with the District of Columbia’s Executive Office of the Mayor and Serve DC.
Safe Support

The goal of the program is to create a group of trained volunteers who can safely support emergency services workers without endangering themselves or others.

“The campus CERT program best meets our needs at this time – it provides curriculum spanning a wide range of general emergency response topics, but can be completed in a relatively short period of time,” said Whit Chaiyabhat, Georgetown’s director of emergency management and operational continuity.

A Diverse Group
The volunteers included students, staff and faculty from Georgetown as well as from Catholic, American, Trinity, Howard, George Washington and Gallaudet universities.

At Georgetown, the volunteers came from different parts of the university, and included Lan Hoang, administrative coordinator in Department of Public Safety; Elisa Anderson, associate director, design and publications for the Office of Advancement; and Thomas Buckley, S.J.

 “This program is perfect to provide me with the skills and educate me, students, staff and faculty, in the proper methods in the case an event that could occur on or off campus,” Hoang explains.

Meaningful Training
Anderson says CERT provided her with information about disaster preparedness and potential hazards and training in basic disaster response skills.

“I’m confident that I now have the decision-making, organizational and practical skills to assist others following an emergency when professional responders may not be immediately available to help,” she says. “Volunteering in the CERT program is providing a meaningful way to give back to my community.”

Helping Others
Giving back comes naturally to Jesuits, whose tradition is to help others.
 “I wanted to be available on campus as a volunteer to help first responders,” Buckley says. “I have a special interest by living on campus in the Jesuit community – I don’t want to see something happen to the elderly priests in the residence.”

For more information on CERT courses offered at Georgetown, visit the Office of University Safety.

(September 23, 2010)