Welcome to the Back Channel CERT Network

If you are a CERT leader and would like be able to post messages on this blog, leave a comment with your details by clicking on the green link, just below this message, titled "Comments".

This blog is for local community's Community Emergency Response Team leaders. It has been created in order to promote direct communication between community team leaders in the spirit of "Let's get 'er done!" rather than waiting for someone, somewhere to...

• Pass your message along
• Filter/Edit/Standardize
• Authorize
• Approve with the Attorneys
• Get the ______'s approval before... (pick your local stumbling block)
• Or otherwise hold everything up until nothing gets done until too late!

Things that you are encouraged to post here:

• Team Trainings which other team's members may also want to attend
• CERT-oriented resources such as other CERT blogs or commercial websites
• Direct communications procedures between teams, both emergency and non-emergency
• Anything else that you think might help build CERT membership and readiness

Comments from anyone are always welcome but subject to moderation. The Posts themselves can only be made by Team Leaders after being added to the poster's list. Leaders who would like be able to post messages on this blog, leave a comment with your details by clicking on the green"Comments" link.

Team Meetings... Is there something better?

In the spirit of our motto, “Practice like you mean it!”, Mira Mesa CERT no longer has team meeting in the classic sense. We have done that for a couple of years and have found that attendance dwindles because volunteers really don’t want to spend time sitting around just talking. No matter what presentations were made or matters discussed, people had a hard time making meetings. We changed locations, days and times and have never been able to find a “sweet-spot” were a majority of members could (or would) attend.

So what we are doing now is have a “call-out drill” on the 10th of every month, regardless of which day it falls on. The exact time of day depends on the day of the week it falls upon with weekdays tending towards after work hours. That way, no matter what anyone’s schedule is – there will be several that they should be able to make each year.

Here is how it works…

I send both a cellular text message and email to Mira Mesa CERT members approximately two hours before the rally. Members meet at the rally point or other designated area and get checked in and assigned duties according to their arrival times. We then perform a part or parts of an actual call-out: Search, S.T.A.R.T., Rescue, Triage, Transport, Medical Treatment, etc. Each drill runs about an hour and a half with about an hour of briefing and actual drilling. The drill is followed by a half hour or more of debriefing, discussing issues and ideas. We have had a lot of “ah-haw” moments because the drills have been in the dark (how do I write on a Triage card and hold a flashlight too?), on cold days (I should have had a jacket), which have made our team better prepared.

Mira Mesa CERT is happy to have members of other CERTs join us either to observe or participate. Email the Mira Mesa Team Leader for more info: tjwalt@yahoo.com. Be sure to mention CERT in the title or I might miss your email.