FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DCC EMPLOYEES PREPARE FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE

DCC Emergency Response Team members Teresa Toler, Electronics Technician II and adjunct instructor, left, and McKenly Graves, Learning Assistance Center Specialist, helped organize the campus-wide training. Planning began months before the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Part of the emergency preparedness training for Danville Community College employees included a mock disaster drill in which a DCC Community Emergency Response Team member assists a “victim”.

DANVILLE, VA, June 26, 2007 -- A young boy burst into the Danville Community College classroom, screaming, “People need help!”  Those three words set in motion the DCC Emergency Response Team’s training exercise.  

Called the DCC Community Emergency Response Team (DCC CERT), the 25 participants discovered more than a dozen injured people in a classroom with toppled furniture after an imaginary thunderstorm packing 90 mile per hour winds ripped through the City of Danville.  The heavy winds caused trees to fall and crash into a classroom. 

The DCC CERT team, which includes administrators, faculty, and staff, immediately went into action by assessing the injured, securing the area, calling the city’s emergency services personnel and creating a treatment area for the injured -- all within a matter of minutes.

Thanks to the vision of college officials to start a CERT course on campus several months ago, DCC’s employees are now better prepared to handle both natural and manmade disasters, says Doug Young, the City of Danville’s Director of Emergency Services and President of the Virginia Association of Emergency Management.

“This is the first college in Virginia that I am aware of to begin a college campus CERT. In wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, I commend DCC for being proactive and not reactive. The steps this college has taken by providing campus CERT should make students’ parents feel more comfortable about their children’s safety while on DCC’s campus,” Young explains.

Young is so impressed by the college’s efforts, that he and CERT Deputy Coordinators Al Smith and Jack Aaron recently made a presentation on DCC’s CERT progress at the National Citizens Corps Conference on Community Preparedness in Alexandria.

“We are proud that the area is gaining national and state recognition due to Danville Community College’s innovativeness in starting the first college campus CERT in Virginia,” Young adds.

Young says the CERT training is important because during an incident, public safety personnel may not be able to reach everyone right away.  By getting trained in CERT, campus employees will have the skills to help emergency management and first responders save lives and protect property.            

 “Presently, a number of colleges are working with plans to encompass weather-related disasters and violence in response to the Virginia Tech tragedy. Campus CERT teaches faculty, staff, and students what to do in case the campus is locked down and how to assess and treat injured persons. DCC’s CERT was planned and scheduled prior to the events at Virginia Tech.”

DCC personnel McKenly Graves and Teresa Toler first presented the idea of CERT to DCC’s administration in 2006. Graves, DCC’s Learning Assistance Center Specialist, explains that a tornado warning last year prompted the need for a CERT program on campus.

“When a tornado warning went into effect last year, DCC’s faculty and staff had to make a lot of decisions. While we tried to get the word out, some people were unsure of where to go and what to actually do,” recalls Graves.          

Toler, an Electronics Technician II, and adjunct instructor, adds that the Virginia Tech tragedy served as a wake-up call to all college campuses to be better prepared to handle dangerous situations.

“Unfortunately, this is perfect timing to stress the importance of CERT on the college campus,” Toler says. “The Virginia Tech incident stresses the need for college students, faculty, and staff to be prepared when a disaster unfolds.”

Toler adds that CERT’s emphasis on psychology is important.

“In DCC’s CERT, we learn how people can react during a disaster, how people may unwind after the danger has subsided and the entire post debriefing process,” Toler continues. “CERT also trains participants how to talk to people who are under grave stress; giving us examples of words to use and not to use.”

In addition to a thorough psychological study, DCC CERT offers training in how to assess a dangerous situation, search for victims, create a treatment area and stabilize the injured in a variety of possible life-threatening and structure damaging situations. Dangerous situations may include weather-related incidents, bomb threats, bomb incidents, biological threats, chemical threats, terrorist attacks, fire and violence.

According to Smith, who also serves as a DCC CERT instructor, CERT is designed to teach people to “think outside of the box”.

“This is not the normal line of thinking. This is not emergency preparedness as we know it. Remember, you may be working in an institution for a while without help. You may be here self-contained. You will have to handle the situation yourself. Always sizes up the situation - identify the dangers, the team capabilities and the team limitations.” Smith explains.

Scott Barnes, DCC’s Vice President of Financial and Administrative Services, says the CERT training will definitely help the college become more prepared to handle a wide variety of incidents. In addition to the program, DCC also has placed Emergency Response Equipment bags and defibrillators for each building on campus to respond to emergency medical situations.

Danville Community College is now preparing for its second class which will begin in August. The DCC CERT classes are offered free to employees who agree to join a CERT team. Each CERT team member receives a backpack with basic supplies and a hard helmet.