Emergency response team hoped to be formed in area counties

Volunteers from seven southwest Nebraska counties are being sought to form a Community Emergency Response Team.
    Duties of the team would be to help first responders during and after a disaster in the counties of Chase, Perkins, Hayes, Hitchcock, Dundy, Furnas and Red Willow counties.
    An organizational meeting is set for Tuesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the Dundy County ambulance barn in Benkelman.
    Pam Reichert, fiscal agent with Southwest Planning Exercise and Training, said many people have expressed interest in wanting to be able to help first responders in disasters.
    “Now is your chance,” she said.
    CERT is a nationally supported, locally implemented initiative that teaches people how to better prepare themselves for hazards that may affect their communities. The CERT Program trains volunteers to prepare for the types of disasters that their community may face, Reichert said.         Through hands-on practice and realistic exercises, CERT volunteers learn how to safely respond to man-made, technological and natural hazards and can provide additional assistance with many aspects of basic disaster response.   
    “The ability for CERT volunteers to perform these activities frees up professional responders to focus their efforts on more complex, essential and critical tasks,” she said.
    The Southwest PET group has received grant funds specifically to get CERT programs on the ground, she said.
    Reichert said anyone can be a CERT volunteer, regardless of age or ability. Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.
    All those interested in the emergency response team can learn more at the March 8 meeting.
    Call Reichert at 308-882-6036 or email: preichert@hotmail.com for more information.