Palm Beach County at a multi-agency drill

On Saturday, January 17, three members of the Addison Reserve CERT TEAM, represented Palm Beach County at a multi-agency drill. Those that attended were Me, Mel Waxman and Jim Goldfein. The exercise was conducted in an abandoned trailer park in Margate.

In attendance were various agencies from Broward County including Fire Rescue, Margate Fire Department, 6 ambulances, 20 volunteer "VICTIMS" from Margate High School, numerous CERT Teams from Broward County and members of the Addison Reserve CERT Team. In Addition reprentatives from the Health Department and law enforcement were present.

The coordination, planning and execution for the event was excellent. I realized that we have a lot to learn and that there are additional supplies and material that we need to have available in case we should ever be subjected to a disaster in our community. We have most of what we would need, but there is a lot that we don't have. I will be presenting a shopping list to the MPOA of additional supplies.

The exercise included triage of casualties, transport of the "VICTIMS", splinting of fractures and dressing of wounds. Fire suppression was supervised by the Margate Fire Department and was an active part of this drill. Search and rescue was included as the "VICTIMS" were scattered throughout the trailer park.

In total, there were over 100 participants in the exercise. Because of the scope of this drill, radio communication was a very important part of the exercise. Safety was also a very important part of the drill and because of that, no one got hurt.

I would like to see many more of you involved in future exercises. So far we have been very lucky. There have been no emergencys for quite a while.

Ask yourself this, if you were in need of emergency care, would you trust you? Do you have the skills needed to save your life or the life of a loved one if needed? If the answer to these questions is no, you NEED to join us at these drills.

Sincerely,

Phil Ettinger: Team Leader