ADVANCED TRAINING / EXERCISES 

Learning the basic Community Emergency Response Team concepts is the easy part. More difficult is remembering and having the opportunities to sharpen those skills. In addition, many skills are needed to help our community, which go well beyond the basic CERT training.

In the fall of the year, we host advanced training at Blue River Community College. This training usually goes beyond the basic CERT training. We call this training Public Awareness Safety Training or P.A.S.T. for short. In 2008 CERT people were offered the opportunity to receive training in areas which were needed to the following areas.

Chainsaw Safety

Red Cross Shelter Management

Water / Flood Safety Operations

Damage Assessment

Modular Emergency Medical System (MEMS)

Several exercises each year are hosted by regional emergency response organizations. In past years, Independence CERT has taken part in these advanced exercises where new skills were taught and practiced the same day.

As we go into the 2008 – 2009 winter, Independence CERT is sponsoring the first large-scale exercise involving multi-organizational and multi-jurisdictional organizations. This will be the first exercise on this scale and the first to include emergency response exercise planning from organizations all over the Kansas City metro area.