2008 Woodie Awards
CERT program begins at Stevens
Michael Lutkenhouse
Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: Campus News
- Page 1 of 1
In the wake of disasters requiring a community response Stevens and Hoboken have worked together to start a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program both here at Stevens and in Hoboken. Starting August 13th, 15 members of the Stevens community along with 11 Hoboken Municipal employees underwent 28 hours of training that ended with a disaster simulation.
The program, 6 months in the making, was organized as a joint effort between the Stevens Police Department, Hoboken Police and Hoboken Office of Emergency Management. Instruction was provided by the New Jersey State Police and emergency officials various fields. Members of the CERT program went on to describe how the unique relationship between Hoboken and Stevens, along with their respective CERT teams, will be used as a model to illustrate how a city and college can work together to prepare for disasters.
The training received by the volunteers covered a number of areas ranging from basic first aid to emergency management. Upon completion of the training, the participants received an emergency disaster kit containing a CERT vest, helmet, tools for shutting of utilities along with other basic equipment. In addition to this, Stevens provided members of both teams with a basic first aid kit.
While only one undergraduate and one graduate student were able to participate in the training, Chief Griffin was quoted as saying "Due to the overall success of the first CERT class it is now our intention to offer this opportunity to graduates and undergraduates in the near future." He went on to describe a neighborhood watch program by saying "Just as we're bringing CERT to the Stevens community we're going to bring the neighborhood watch program to Stevens as well which will allow the students, faculty and especially residents to work hand in hand with the police and security personal in safe guarding our campus."
Students interested in becoming involved in the neighborhood watch program or CERT program can contact the police at the gatehouse to sign up to receive information about the classes as it becomes available.
The program, 6 months in the making, was organized as a joint effort between the Stevens Police Department, Hoboken Police and Hoboken Office of Emergency Management. Instruction was provided by the New Jersey State Police and emergency officials various fields. Members of the CERT program went on to describe how the unique relationship between Hoboken and Stevens, along with their respective CERT teams, will be used as a model to illustrate how a city and college can work together to prepare for disasters.
The training received by the volunteers covered a number of areas ranging from basic first aid to emergency management. Upon completion of the training, the participants received an emergency disaster kit containing a CERT vest, helmet, tools for shutting of utilities along with other basic equipment. In addition to this, Stevens provided members of both teams with a basic first aid kit.
While only one undergraduate and one graduate student were able to participate in the training, Chief Griffin was quoted as saying "Due to the overall success of the first CERT class it is now our intention to offer this opportunity to graduates and undergraduates in the near future." He went on to describe a neighborhood watch program by saying "Just as we're bringing CERT to the Stevens community we're going to bring the neighborhood watch program to Stevens as well which will allow the students, faculty and especially residents to work hand in hand with the police and security personal in safe guarding our campus."
Students interested in becoming involved in the neighborhood watch program or CERT program can contact the police at the gatehouse to sign up to receive information about the classes as it becomes available.