First Ivy Tech CERT Team for Monroe County

Reprinted from Campus Highlights – Ivy Tech Newsletter September 2004 Edition

On September 2, Ivy Tech Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members arrived at Van Buren Township Fire Department, 2130 S. Kirby Road to find a building that was damaged by an earthquake. The CERT team members successfully secured the disaster scene by shutting off all utilities (water, natural gas and electricity) and checking for fire. Once the scene was secured, they searched the damaged structure for victims, pulling victims to safety or cribbing heavy debris to release victims from being trapped. Other team members began to perform triage on the victims once the triage area was established.

This was the scenario of a hands-on training exercise for Ivy Tech’s CERT team members to practice the skills they had received in the classroom sessions. The skills necessary to response to this “disaster” included site assessment, triage, first aid and search and rescue.

This is the second CERT team trained in Monroe County, the first comprising employees from TASUS Corporation. The CERT team members are now able to aid emergency response agencies in Monroe County should a disaster or emergency strike the locale. The CERT teams can also be used in other areas around the county if a need arises. Ivy Tech plans on recruiting a second CERT Team.

Members of Ivy Tech’s CERT team pose for a group photograph. Team members include Eric Begeman, Shirley Poindexter, Doug Mattick, Missy Robertson, Jeremy Gaddis, Steve Hanson, Tyler Bass, Bonnie Overton, Rita Brown and Dave Johnson.

“I am pleased that the Ivy Tech responded to my call to participate,” said John Hooker III, Director of Monroe County Emergency Management. “It is important for us to have trained and prepared personnel on the Ivy Tech campus who can provide much-needed assistance should a disaster or emergency strike. I was pleased to hear the ideas that emerged from the Ivy Tech CERT Team as they talked about planning strategies, securing additional supplies for the Ivy Tech campus and preplanning for hazards. I believe in the CERT program and am confident the Ivy Tech campus is a safer place now than it has been, thanks to its new team.”

The instructors were from the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency. They are Richard McLaughlin, Monroe County CERT Coordinator and also deputy sheriff with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, Steve Gilliam, a firefighter with Van Buren Township Fire Department and Bloomington Hospital Ambulance Service who is the Emergency Medical Services instructor, Max Ferree, retired fire chief from Van Buren Township Fire Department who is the fire instructor and Ken Long with IU Risk Management who is the Emergency Management instructor.