Copyright © 2003-2009
Polk County Health Center
Bolivar, Missouri.
All rights reserved.

PCHC Disclaimer Statement

Emergency Services - Community Education

American Heart Association / American Red Cross Training

PCHC currently has instructors associated with AHA and ARC. Please contact us if you have an interest in any of the following courses:

• CPR
• First Aid
• Basic Life Support

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

CERT is a component of the Polk County Citizen Corps

The PCCC is committed to bringing together local leaders, citizen volunteers, and the network of first responder organizations, such as fire and police departments, to share resources and to train individuals on how to handle a disaster situation. People who are trained to help themselves and their neighbors will allow emergency personnel to focus on those in critical need following a disaster.

We hope you will join us in making our community as safe as possible. This website is designed to give you the information you need on volunteering for the Polk County Citizen Corps. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to call 417-777-8543.

The Need to be READY...

Experience shows that a local community must be able to sustain itself for the first 72 hours following a disaster until outside help can arrive. Trained volunteers are a critical part of this initial response.

In 95% of all emergencies, bystanders or victims themselves, are the first to provide emergency assistance or to perform rescue. That could be you!

About PCCC

The Polk County Citizen Corps program exists in partnership with the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and under the direction of the Local Emergency Planning Commission (LEPC) and the Polk County Emergency Management Director Rick Lewis.

Since 1988, the Polk County Local Emergency Planning Commission (LEPC) has been involved in planning, preparing, educating and responding to situations in Polk County in regards to hazardous materials. This 19 member LEPC board were appointed by the county commissioners and then approved by the state and are currently overseeing the PCCC program.

The purpose of PCCC is to help individuals to know how to take care of themselves, their family and their community in an emergency or non-emergency situation. The program offers opportunities to take a short course "Ready in 3" which is a one hour course which helps equips you with the basic first step knowledge to help you take care of you, your family and community when an emergency arrives. Ready in 3 is available as a presentation to your group, class, organization, and business or can be taken as an individual.

Other opportunities of the PCCC are CERT, Fire Corps, Medical Reserve Corps, Neighborhood Watch or VIPS. These programs are explained further throughout the site.

All programs, trainings and educational opportunities are free. PCCC wants you to be prepared in any situation because being prepared to take care of you, your family and community is being responsible.

Join PCCC

Be a Citizen Corps Volunteer. Here’s how:

• Request to take Ready in 3 short course that gives you the basics in emergency readiness for you, your family and your community. This one-hour, one-time introduction equips you with basic, first-step knowledge to help you to take care of yourself and others before emergency help arrives. This program is available as a presentation to your group, class, organization or business or can be taken as an individual.
• Select an area of the Citizen Corps program you would like to learn more about and/or receive free training and education. Choose one or more areas of interest including:
  • Medical Reserve Corps (MRC)
  • Neighborhood Watch
  • Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS)
  • Community Emergency Response Training (CERT)
  • Fire Corps
• Register as a Polk County Citizen Corps volunteer available to help in emergency and non-emergency situations throughout our county.

Your skills not only will benefit you in time of an emergency, but could be used to help with general community educational exercises and to provide non-emergency assistance with community events such as school programs, health-related functions, fairs and events. You will be a part of a growing volunteer network to benefit Polk County.

There is never a charge for any of the Citizen Corps educational and training programs.

NOAA All-Hazard Alert Radio

Project Community Alert

Through the LEPC, the Polk County Citizen Corp program, works in conjunction with Polk County Community Connections and local businesses to promote the purchase and placement of all-hazard/weather radios in homes, schools and businesses throughout Polk County. These NOAA radios are programmable to our county and sound automatically when perilous weather and other natural and technological hazards are broadcast by the National Weather Service. Through a cooperative agreement with Radio Shack of Bolivar, CMH Home Medical Equipment and Woods Supermarket these radios may be purchased at discount of $29.99 with a portion of the sales contributed to the Polk County Community Connections.

Sponsoring Organizations of the PCA program include:

• Bolivar Area Chamber of Commerce
• Citizens Memorial Healthcare
• Polk County Community Connections
• Southwest Missouri Emergency Support

All-Hazards NOAA Weather Radio

• Displays all hazards
• Battery backup
• Programmable to recieve local information
• Warning system that will wake you up!

Questions? Contact your local emergency management office.

A project of the Southwest Missouri Emergency Support Organization (SMESO).

www.marc.org/emergency/pca.htm

www.PCA-radio.com

www.smeso.org

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)

Community Emergency Response Team training is a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that educates citizens about the hazards they face in their community and trains them in lifesaving skills. If needed following a disaster, these citizen-responders use their training as part of a neighborhood or workplace team to help others when professional responders are overwhelmed or not immediately available. CERT members provide immediate assistance to victims in their area, organize spontaneous volunteers who have not had the training, and collect disaster intelligence that will assist professional responders with prioritization and allocation of resources when they arrive.

PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM

CERT promotes a partnering between emergency management and response agencies and the people in the community that they serve. The goal is to train members of neighborhoods and workplaces in basic response skills. Then CERT teams are formed and maintained as part of the emergency response capability for their area.

If there is a natural or man-made event that overwhelms or delays the community's professional responders, CERT members can assist others by applying the basic response and organizational skills that they learned during their CERT training. These skills can help save and sustain lives until help arrives. CERT members also can volunteer for special projects that improve a community's preparedness.

HOW IT WORKS

The basic CERT training program is a 20-hour course, typically delivered one evening per week over a 7-week period. Training sessions cover disaster preparedness, fire suppression, basic disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, team organization, and a new module on terrorism to educate CERT members about BNICE agents: Biological, Nuclear, Incendiary, Chemical, and Explosive. This module will help CERT members identify situations where these agents may have been used and protective actions that they should take.

The training concludes with a disaster simulation in which participants practice skills that they learned throughout the course.