Cayman Brac CERT established
(L-R) Danielle Coleman, HMCI Director; Yvette Dilbert, interim leader of Cayman Brac CERT; and Ernie Scott, Sister Islands District Commissioner
(CNS Local Life): Cayman Brac now has a dedicated Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) with the 52 residents who completed their training celebrated at a graduation ceremony held Saturday, 2 June, at the Seafarers and Veterans Hall. The 26-hour course comprised training in first aid/CPR, fire safety and suppression, disaster preparedness, stress management/disaster psychology, search and rescue operations, initial damage assessment, vulnerability and capacity assessment.
District Commissioner for the Sister Islands Ernie Scott, who is also chairman of the Sister Islands Emergency Committee, praised the commitment of the residents to bettering their community and he thanked them for volunteering to make the Brac and Little Cayman more resilient, stated a press release.
Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) and the Cayman Islands Red Cross (CIRC) work in partnership to deliver the CERT training course, which aims to increase disaster preparedness and resilience at the grass roots level.
CERT training is free and open to all residents above the age of 16. Fire Officer John Christian also assisted by conducting the fire safety and search and rescue components of the course.
Following the graduation, HMCI Director Danielle Coleman said, “This is an important development for our national disaster response capacity; the Sister Islands now has a trained group of volunteers who can assist with the response and relief efforts following an impact from an event such as hurricane, they also have a significant preparedness role.
“These volunteers gave up 26 hours of their time to get trained and this in itself demonstrates commitment which we feel confident will be sustainable. We are hopeful that the Cayman Islands aren’t impacted by a hurricane this year but if we are, we now have a stronger and more prepared team of responders in the Sister Islands that can assist.”
The Cayman Brac CERT is the sixth CERT to be established in the Cayman Islands, with other teams in Prospect, North Side, North Sound Gardens, West Bay and Windsor Park. In addition, a number of students from John Gray High School and Clifton Hunter High School completed the Campus CERT programmr.
HMCI and the Red Cross are hoping to commence a general CERT training for people across the Cayman Islands in October.
For more information, call (244-3145 or 926-2027) or email Simon Boxall
Category: Community
I completed the CERT program here in The States last fall after moving to Bluffton, South Carolina. I have a home and live on Cayman Brac about 5 months of the year. Is it possible for me to train with and work with the CERT team on The Brac in the event there is a need there. While living in NJ, I was a also member of the local First Aid Squad for almost 12 years.
That is AWESOME!!! I’m so glad to see so many people preparing to take care of each other!!