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NEWS & UPDATES
 

Happy Tuesday!!! This coming Saturday we will be hosting an exercise at Norwood Secondary School. This is going to not only be a great exercise but a great training session as well. As I write this we have over 30 students from Pinellas Park School's First Responder Program who are volunteering their time to be "victims" for this exercise. However, we have a total between the two sessions of ONLY 11 CERT members participating in the exercise (five of the eleven are from LE-CERT). Please utilize this opportunity to better prepare yourself should a disaster happen in your community. It takes a great deal of time to plan these exercises; time well spent, if our members take advantage of them.

The exercise is scheduled for Saturday, March 12th and REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. When you arrive at the exercise, you will participate as a team to conduct search & rescue, triage, and treatment in the first round. After the first exercise, we will hold a discussion of the CERT basics and the lessons learned from your first round. And then, you will go through the same scenario incorporating your lessons learned.

As you are well aware of, Florida has not had a serious disaster in over ten years. While that is great and we don't want a disaster, CERT programs across Florida, and yes here in Lealman too, we have seen a decline in active members. Nevertheless, we still need to be prepared for a disaster. We need active, well-trained, committed CERT members because we will have a disaster and our community will suffer more without CERT.

Keeping that in mind, on Monday, March 21st we will be having a General Membership Meeting starting at 6:30pm at Fire Station #18 located at 4360 55th Avenue North. At that meeting, we will be holding a discussion on the make-up of your CERT organization,  the procedure for electing our first Board of Directors, and we want to hear your thoughts about how to energized the program going forward.

Please take the time to attend this meeting as it will help to determine the future of our program!!

Please also look at the listing of opportunities below and join us as we build a strong CERT Program and make our communities safer.

As always, if you have questions/concerns, please feel free to reach out to me by email or call me at (727) 481-2797. 

Respectfully,

K. Larry Thompson, Captain

UPCOMING EVENTS
(Please utilize your Mission Manager (MM) account to RSVP to events and training opportunities mentioned below. 
If you are currently not a MM users please email me and we will set-up an account.)

Thursday, 03/10/2016: CPR COURSE - City of Seminole Fire Rescue is offering Free Community CPR classes. The program utilizes the American Heart Association Heartsaver curriculum; classes are fun, simple and will give you the confidence to help save a life if needed. Included in the course is "Use of an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED)", as well as CPR for Children and Infants, you will also learn the techniques used to help someone that is choking. All classes start at 7PM and are conducted at Seminole Fire Station 29, 11195 70th Avenue North. Free parking is available at the rear of the fire station off of the 70th Avenue North rear entrance. To reserve your spot in class please email bdykens@myseminole.com or call ahead to 727-393-8711 extension 210.

Saturday, 03/12/2016: CERT FULL SCALE EXERCISE - On Saturday, March 12th the Lealman CERT program will be hosting a full-scale exercise incorporating Incident Command, Search & Rescue, and Traige. The exercise will take place at Norwood Secondary School located at 2154 27th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. The start time will be either 9am or 10am depending on which ticket you sign up for. Each group will complete the exercise upon arrival, debrief and implement the lessons learned, and then repeat the exercise. Total time committment 3 hours. Each group is limited to 20 CERT members. You should be dressed for search & rescue activities, i.e. - long durable pants (jeans), shirt, durable shoes or boots, and the PPE equipment provided to you. You should also have CERT forms in case you are the incident commander.
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Thursday, 03/17/2016: CERT RADIO NET - The Lealman CERT Amateur Radio Club ''KI4ZKR'' holds a bi-monthly net on the 1st & 3rd Thursday of each month beginning at 8pm. The net starts on the N4AAC Repeater 145.310 MHz, PL tone of 103.5. Following the Repeater check-in the net moves to the CERT Simplex Frequency of 146.580 MHz. This is a controlled net. Please listen to and follow net controls instructions. RSVP on MM.

Saturday, 03/19/2016: PAL BLOCK PARTY (CERT BOOTH) - We have been asked to provide assistance at the 2nd Annual PAL Block Party being held on Saturday, March 19th from Noon until 4:30pm. Set-up will begin at 10:30am. We have been asked to set up a booth promoting CERT as well as the bounce house, son-cones, etc. RSVP on MM.

Monday, 03/21/2016: CERT GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING - Please see article above for more information about the purpose of this meeting. The meeting is being held at Fire Station #18 located at 4360 55th Avenue North. The meeting will start at 6:30pm. RSVP on MM.

Tuesday, 03/22/2016: SkyWarn Course - The City of Tampa Office of Emergency Management will be hosting a Skywarn Severe Weather Spotter training on Tuesday, March 22, at 7:00pm. Class will be held at the City of Tampa EOC, located on the second floor of the GTE Financial Building, 711 E. Henderson Avenue, Tampa, FL 33602 (from Nebraska Avenue, turn West onto Henderson Avenue; the gate to the facility is on the left-hand side at the end of the street). CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR TAMPA'S SKYWARN COURSE.

Wednesday, 03/23/2016: Full-Scale POD Exercise - You are invited to participate in the 2016 Full Scale Points of Dispensing (POD) Exercise sponsored by the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County. This event is designed to be in response to a mock aerosolized anthrax attack on the Tampa Bay area and will establish a learning environment for players to exercise emergency response plans, policies, and procedures as they pertain to Points of Dispensing (PODs).

WHO: Community partners with a role in emergency response & volunteers who would like to participate.
WHAT: Full Scale POD Exercise
WHEN: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 7:30am
WHERE: Pinellas Park High School gymnasium - 6305 118th Ave, Largo
RSVP - Kimberly Grove by email

Saturday, 03/26/2016: Tierra Verde Car Show - On Saturday, March 26th, Lealman CERT is being honored as the volunteer organization receiving the proceeds from the Tierra Verde Annual Car Show. We will be setting up an informational booth as well ascending sno-cones, popcorn, etc. We could use your help. Set up will begin at 8am in Downtown Tierra Verde with the car show running from 11am to 3pm. RSVP on MM.

Thursday, 04/7/2016: CERT RADIO NET - The Lealman CERT Amateur Radio Club ''KI4ZKR'' holds a bi-monthly net on the 1st & 3rd Thursday of each month beginning at 8pm. The net starts on the N4AAC Repeater 145.310 MHz, PL tone of 103.5. Following the Repeater check-in the net moves to the CERT Simplex Frequency of 146.580 MHz. This is a controlled net. Please listen to and follow net controls instructions. RSVP on MM.

Thursday, 04/14/2016: Basic First Aid - The City of Seminole Fire Rescue is offering Free Basic First Aid classes. The program utilizes the American Heart Association First Aid curriculum; classes are fun, simple and will give you the confidence to help a sick or injured person.  Students learn how to handle emergencies, bleeding control, care for shock and various injuries. All classes start at 7PM and are conducted at Seminole Fire Station 29, 11195 70th Avenue North. The 2016 dates for spring classes are January 28, April 14, and May 26.  The classes are not intended for health care worker certification. If you require an American Heart Association Basic First Aid course completion card there is $5.00 processing fee. Free parking is available at the rear of the fire station off of the 70th Avenue North rear entrance. To reserve your spot in class please email bdykens@myseminole.com or call ahead to 727-393-8711 extension 210.

Monday, 04/18/2016: CERT GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING - Please see article above for more information about the purpose of this meeting. The meeting is being held at Fire Station #18 located at 4360 55th Avenue North. The meeting will start at 6:30pm. RSVP on MM.


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