Do you know what to do if an emergency happens? If an earthquake or tornado hit right now, what would you do?
Of course, no one thinks that will ever happen here, but people were probably saying that prior to the ice storm back in 2008. Got your attention didn’t we?
The Community Emergency Response Team is willing to teach you what to do when a disaster happens. All you have to do is sign up for a three-day class in Bow next weekend and get ready for some learning. And while zombie outbreaks will not be discussed per say, you will be able to apply a lot of what you learned if it ever did happen. Our sources confirmed that.
“It could be applied to many situations,” said Stacey Elliott, program coordinator for the Community Emergency Response Team.
The emergency preparedness training session will be held at the Bow Old Town Hall from Sept. 18 to 20.
“Our goal is to reach as many community members as we can to teach them how to prepare for what to do in the event of an emergency,” Elliott said.
And since you need to sign up ahead of time (unless you like to live on the edge and risk it being too full), we’d suggest doing that some time soon.
’Cause you’re going to learn life saving techniques that you’ll hopefully never need to use – like where you take care of yourself first and then help others.
“The way we think about it is like the airplane model,” Elliott said. “If you can’t take care of yourself, you won’t have the resources to help anyone else.”
You’ll practice making a “go kit” that includes things like water, medicines, clothes and food if you need to evacuate.
“There’s a whole big list of suggestions,” Elliott said.
This is a hands-on class, so putting out small fires with an actual fire extinguisher is on the list of activities, along with learning how to shut off gas lines and breakers, and basic first aid. There’s search and rescue scenarios and an end of class drill that tests everything you’ve learned.
“The class is definitely hands on and they use things they wouldn’t otherwise, unless it was an emergency situation,” Elliott said.
The class is free and open to anyone. There will be a presentation about the team, but Elliott said there’s no expectation for participants to sign up.
Classes are 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18, and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
It’s a FEMA program, sponsored by the Capital Area Public Health Network and the Capital Area Citizen Corps, and was brought back to life at the end of last year.
“We had emergency management directors asking to bring it back,” Elliott said.
To sign up, visit apps.nh.gov/blogs/irc and click online registration. For questions, email volunteer@capitalareaphn.org or call 224-2595, ext. 231.