By Staff
Melissa Cason
Franklin County Times
VINA – The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) at Vina School held their final inspections with simulated disasters Wednesday to see how prepared the students are in the event of an actual catastrophe.
Community Education Representative Sue Entriken said the students have been busy learning how to deal with different emergency situations over a period of several weeks. The students were evaluated during Wednesday's exercises.
"This is service learning," Entriken said. "We are teaching our students how to serve their communities."
Vina has 10 student volunteers and two adult volunteers. Red Bay has eight student volunteers and five adult volunteers
"Our goal is to get this program in every school in Franklin County," Entriken said. "We are going to begin training students at the other schools in January."
Dennis Sell, President of the Franklin County CERT, was in charge of providing the training for the students at Red Bay and Vina.
"This program has had a fantastic outcome in Franklin County," he said.
CERT officials served as the field judges for the simulated disasters, and offered some constructive criticism.
The following adult volunteers helped during the simulations at Red Bay and Vina: Billy Entriken, Rick Poore, Billy Boyd, Linda Brackin, Pete Brackin, and David Baldwin.
"These judges have taken time off work to come and help you when they could be doing something else," Entriken told the students. "We thank you for taking time to help us with this program."
The youth CERT team is funded by a Youth Organized Disaster Action (YODA) grant, which pays for instructional materials as well as supplies for the schools.
For more information on the YODA grant, contact Community Education at 331-0005.