Informational articles, links, and stories.
Our friends at Alexandria VA CERT create very informative newsletters. We are happy to begin sharing them with the community at large.
Please keep in mind the contact information you see in this newsletter are specific to Alexandria VA unless otherwise noted.
This month’s newsletter highlights the new National Suicide Prevention Lifeline available by calling or texting 988. Please read for more information.
Congratulations to AAACERT’s President, Bruce Morgenstern, for receiving the Hunger Hero Award Commitment to Service. During the pandemic, AAACERT’s all-volunteer members donated almost 8,000 hours of service. One of the organizations where members donated their hours was at the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. The following commnets are from the Facebook page of the AACFB. Please check out their website and consider making a donation.
Hunger Hero Awardee
Bruce Morgenstern | Commitment to Service
At the beginning of the pandemic when AACFB lost its entire volunteer workforce, Bruce made it his mission to ensure that AACFB had the manpower in place to continue to get food to County residents in need. As president of Anne Arundel Annapolis Community Emergency Response Team (AAA CERT), Bruce brought much-needed help to our warehouse, ensuring that our mission would not falter. We also recognize Bruce for other AACFB volunteer projects he initiated from creating databases and providing IT support to management consulting.
Congratulations to the May 2022 CERT Basic class. Anne Arundel Annapolis CERT’s second class of 2022. The May 2022 class underwent its training and final disaster simulation exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This group was challenged with under 10 participants which added extra stress to the search and rescue teams. Despite this challenge, they did an outstanding job. During the simulation, search teams had to perform basic search and rescue, provided triage to survivors, simulate fire suppression, and deploy cribbing to free a trapped survivor. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class which starts in May? Then checkout our training page on our website for more details.
Congratulations to the April 2022 CERT Basic class. Anne Arundel Annapolis CERT’s first class of 2022. The April 2022 class underwent its training and final disaster simulation exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This group was close to pre pandemic size with almost 20 participants. During the simulation, search teams had to perform basic search and rescue, provided triage to survivors, simulate fire suppression, and deploy cribbing to free a trapped survivor. The class found all victims and treated them accordingly. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class which starts in May? Then checkout our training page on our website for more details.
AAACERT is proud to have been recognized in the FEMA CERT/ICPS newsletter for April 2022. Our work last year at the Russett Community Cleanup Day for Earth Day was our first but not our last event with the Russett Community. We’ll continue again this year and expand to help with other events the community has planned.
A special thanks to Rick and Anne for helping last year and for signing up to help this year.
You can read the full story on FEMA’s site by clicking THIS LINK.
Congratulations to the March 2022 Teen CERT Basic training class from Glen Burnie High School, Meade High School, and Severn School. Each class participated in CERT training at their schools before coming together for the final exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. The class performed extremely well despite not knowing each other. Strong winds did not deter the class as they found all survivors and treated them according to the type of injuries they had. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class, checkout our WEBSITE for more details or email our TRAINING team.
AAACERT members were invited to visit the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Aviation Unit. AA Co PD officers explainedthe equipment and ability of the Bell 407GXi helicopter among other items. This equipment helps police officers cover more ground and faster than ground-based officers. Visits like these are just part of the perks volunteer members of AAACERT can experience during our monthly trainings. Click HERE to learn more and sign up for our next CERT Basic class.
Anne Arundel-Annapolis CERT is an all-volunteer non-profit. As volunteers, we rely on donations to continue our efforts. Please consider a donation so we can continue supporting communities around Anne Arundel County. It’s easy to provide support through PayPal and/or by signing up for Amazon Smile.
Congratulations to the October 2021 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic training class. The class underwent its training and final exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This training group had the extra challenge of having only seven participants instead of the usual 20-plus. As a result of their smaller size, during the simulation, search teams had to do double duty both looking for and treating victims. The class overcame this challenge, found all victims, and treated them accordingly. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Interested in taking part in our next class, checkout our website for more details. https://www.aaacert.org
We want to thank everyone who visited our booth at this year’s Linthicum Fair. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the turnout was fantastic. We look forward to the next community-based event where we can say hello and introduce you to CERT and our organization, Anne Arundel Annapolis CERT.
Check out our website for more details and links to our social media pages. www.aaacert.org
We would like to thank everyone that visited our tent during the 2021 National Night Out event held at the Earleigh Heights VFC. The sun stayed away and the wind kept things at a very nice temperature after days of 90 plus degrees.
We provided disaster preparedness material to visitors including flash cards with checklists of items to have on hand during a disaster such as a violent storms like tornados, hurricanes, or major wind.
If you visited our tent and signed our training email list, you also entered into our
giveaway for a one of two preparedness kits. Congrats to the winners.
Our CERT Basic class for Fall 2021 is now open. This will be a full class! The CERT Basic class is approximately 24 hours of instruction in basic disaster skills over 4 days.
CERT Basic Training is designed to prepare you to help yourself and to help others in the event of a catastrophic disaster. Because emergency services personnel will not be able to help everyone immediately, you can make a difference by using your CERT training to save lives and protect property. This training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster when emergency services are not available. With training and practice, and by working as a team, you will be able to protect yourself and do the greatest good for the greatest number after a disaster. Medical or EMT experience is not required.
For dates and times including a link to sign up, please visit the training page on our website at www.aaacert.org/cert-basic-training
PRE-REQUISITES:
Two, online, FEMA Emergency Management Institute courses must be successfully completed prior to the start of CERT Basic training. These courses are free (note: you will be required to get a Student ID (SID) which also is free). The courses are listed as 3 hours each in duration but, on the average, students complete them in a little more than half that time. Details can be found at the link above.
We look forward to having you!
Be Prepared. Have a Plan.
We want to thank everyone who visited our booth at this years Ferndale Festival. It was a hot day but the turnout was fantastic. We look forward to the next community based event where we can say hello and introduce you to CERT and our organization, Anne Arundel Annapolis CERT.
Checkout our website for more details and links to our social media pages. www.aaacert.org
Congratulations to the May 2021 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic training class. The class underwent its training and final exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This training group had the extra challenge of having almost half the normal number of participants. As a result of their smaller size, during the simulation, search teams had to do double duty both looking for and treating victims. The class overcame this challenge, found all victims, and treated them accordingly. Checkout our Facebook page for more photos of this and other events.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, class sizes are limited and fill fast. Interested? Please visit www.aaacert.org.
Congratulations to the March 2021 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic training class. The class underwent its training and final exercise at the Anne Arundel County Fire Training Academy in Millersville, MD. This training group had the extra challenge of having almost half the normal number of participants. As a result of their smaller size, during the simulation, search teams had to do double duty both looking for and treating victims. The class overcame this challenge, found all victims, and treated them accordingly.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, class sizes are limited and fill fast. Interested? Please visit www.aaacert.org.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department is celebrating the second full week of April (April 11-17, 2021) as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. This week, sponsored by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and celebrated annually, honors the thousands of men and women who respond to emergency calls, dispatch emergency professionals and equipment, and render life-saving assistance to the world’s citizens.
Twenty-eight Fire Communications Operators (FCO) and eight lieutenants staff Fire Alarm on a 24/72 shift schedule. Eleven newly hired FCOs and four lieutenants were trained in 2020 to make this staffing model a reality for years to come. This 24/72 schedule, started in January, 2020, has improved morale, and improved efficiency by creating continuity between field and personnel members. FCOs receive more than 1,000 hours of initial training, including certification in Emergency Medical Dispatch, and Emergency Fire Dispatch.
These calm voices on the 911 telephones and on the radio waves quite often go unnoticed, but the Anne Arundel County Fire Department consider the members of Fire Alarm to be the “Golden Glue that holds it all together” for our Department. If anyone from your organization is interested in recognizing the members of our Communications Center in any way during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, please contact Captain Erik Kornmeyer at ErikKornmeyer@aacounty.org. Letters of thanks can be mailed to the following address:
Anne Arundel County Fire Department
Fire Communications
8501 Veterans Highway
Millersville, MD 21108
AAACERT is happy to share the following Spring 2021 Disaster Dispatch from the Anne Arundel County Office of Emergency Management quarterly Newsletter.
In this issue you will find information about Flood Awareness including tools to see your community’s risk, a message from Director Preeti Emrick, Financial Emergency Preparedness tools, and a number of important contacts at the Office of Emergency Management.
Please click the link below to see the PDF of the Newsletter.
#NPPW21
