The C.E.R.T. program at BYU started because the University\'s emergency

Preparedness Coordinator found out about it and sold the idea to the

administration. BYU, because of our connection with the LDS Church with
their

focus on emergency preparedness, is naturally oriented to preparing for
any

eventuality. Training our faculty and staff to be of support in the
event of a

disaster just made sense.

We sent a number of individuals (faculty from the Nursing Department,
and staff

with specific background, i.e. our structural engineer who is also a
National

Guard Engineer officer, a Psychologist who

is trained in post-incident stress treatment, the Campus Fire Marshall,
etc.)

to the state run train-the trainer course. They have in turn conducted
the

training in their areas of expertise.

The primary target has been staff, since they are the most readily
available

and in the most critical locations should something occur. We have
trained all

our custodial staff, all the housing staff, many of our bookstore staff,
etc.

We have also been able to get a number of our faculty to attend the
course as

well. Also, since the beginning of the program we always have one of the
Vice

Presidents speak at the graduation and have been able to bring attention
from

the Administration as well. This has \"spread the word\" so to speak and
now we

have even trained some of the Assistant Vice Presidents and the

Administrative Vice President has signed up for the next class. We have
been

able to promote the class as being especially valuable at home and in
the

community, not just at the University.

We have also trained a few students because they heard about the program
and

\"begged on bended knee\" to attend. One of these students just returned
from his

LDS mission and reported that he had used the training (first aid) when
he

happened upon an accident with serious injuries.

We conduct two classes per year. One during fall semester, and one
during

winter semester.

We have not focused on \"teams\" and instead focused on taking care of
situation

where the C.E.R.T. trained individuals happen to be when an incident
occurs.

When situations are taken care of in the immediate area they are then
directed

to report to the University\'s Emergency Operations Center. When they
arrive

they provide reports to the EOC and then are organized into teams. We
have a

C.E.R.T. supervisor who organizes responders into teams, lets the
incident

commander know what is available, and the Incident Commander (IC) then
uses the

team where he feels he needs them the most. During the last full-scale
exercise

we conducted with Provo City and Utah County we organized six ten member
teams

and provided them to the IC. The IC then used them in setting up triage
areas,

treatment of injured, evacuation of injured, and traffic control. Some
were

also sent on non-ambulance type vehicles (busses and vans) to assist
with

patient care en route to area hospitals (the city did not have enough

ambulances).

We started the program in fall of 1994 and have trained over 400
individuals.

Of these we still have over 300 still employed at BYU. (As of April
2003)

There were a few challenges getting the program established initially.
But,

once we showed the administration the advantages of the program in the
event of

a disaster, and reviewed some of the experiences with California\'s
C.E.R.T.s

following the Northridge earthquake, they fully supported the program.
Almost

all of our classes are held during working hours and attendees are
released from

work to attend training with full pay. Those who have taken the course
are the

best recruiters, and they often convince their supervisors to attend
also.

We started the program with the understanding that the State would
develop a

follow-up/refresher training program and to date this has not happened.
We are

just now getting refresher training organized. If we were to do it
again, we

would have a refresher course developed up front and have everyone
attend at

least one refresher per year. The refresher we are in the process of
putting

together now will take approximately four hours to complete but will
review all

the skills taught in the course.

Below are a couple of examples where we have used our C.E.R.T. people to
assist

with efforts here at Brigham Young University.

Emergency use (exercise):

a\. Situation: terrorist bombing in our basketball arena with 200
injured.

b\. Two \"systems\" were used to activate the teams, both of which are
part of

the training for our C.E.R.T. personnel.

1\. Self activated because they were aware of the emergency situation
due

to proximity to the event center (per normal training).

2\. Notification from our Disaster Task Force (DTF - the senior

administrators who staff our EOC).

c\. Specific duties performed by team members:

1\. Self activated teams assisted with (and were the primary drivers of

this part of the exercise) in initial triage and evacuation of injured.
Once

the professional responders arrived they assisted with all aspects of
treatment

and transport. Because of the large numbers of casualties many were

transported by non-emergency vehicles (vans, busses, etc.) and each
vehicle had

at least one C.E.R.T. member to assist with patient stabilization during

transit. We also had a member of our Amateur Radio Club (non-C.E.R.T.
trained)

accompany each vehicle and maintain contact with the hospital to provide
patient

information during transit.

2\. C.E.R.T. members which were not in the vicinity of the incident were

called via campus radios and other emergency notification systems by
order of

the DTF. C.E.R.T. personnel were directed to report to the EOC for
further

assignment. Once enough personnel arrived to form a reasonable team they
were

provided to the Incident Commander for further assignment. Some teams
were

assigned to assist the self-activated teams as indicated above. Others
were

used in traffic and Perimeter control since we did not have enough
police

offices to fill all the needs.

d\. When team members reported during this activation, the
self-activated

reported to professional responders once the professionals arrived, and
the

others reported to a designated individual at the EOC who made further

assignment as requested by the Incident Commander.

e\. There were approximately 125 C.E.R.T. members involved with the
exercise.

f\. There were approximately 375 hours donated to the conduct of the
exercise

by team members (Three hours per team member.

g\. CERT members received training beyond the basic CERT training for
this.

The procedures they used for the initial response are all taught during
the

normal C.E.R.T. classes (we have an extra session to cover special
procedures

here at the University). We have also provided traffic and perimeter
control

during follow-on review sessions, but not all who performed these
functions had

completed a review session yet after their initial training.

Positive outcomes/lessons learned from our C.E.R.T. program include that
once

the professional responders from the local community learned the
capabilities

and training of C.E.R.T.s they were integrated into the overall
response. At

first the professionals were reluctant to use the volunteers. However,
once

they realized what they could provide they were more than happy to have
their

assistance, especially in the triage, treatment, and transportation
functions.

We also use C.E.R.T.s in assisting in non-emergencies, such as building

evacuations tests/drills. We have used C.E.R.T. trained personnel as
evaluators

(procedures, timeliness, etc.). There are approximately 20 C.E.R.T.
personnel

for each building evacuation conducted, two or three per year.

CERT members receive training beyond the basic CERT training for
evacuations

and other uses on campus. For example:

a\. Reviews of the evacuation checklists and how to evaluate the areas
we

specifically want to review during evacuation drills. This training is

conducted just prior to drills. It would not be available to those who
were not

participating in the specific evacuation.

b\. Training in crowd control and traffic control to assist or relieve

police officers in these duties.

c\. Additional training we provide to all C.E.R.T. personnel includes
the

ATC-20 Post-Seismic Building Evaluation course as developed by the
Applied

Technology Council out of California. We have a structural engineer here
on

campus that has completed all the basic and instructor training provided
at the

ATC, in residence.

Other information (positive outcomes; lessons learned):

a\. C.E.R.T. personnel enjoy being involved and we always have more

volunteers than we need for every evacuation we conduct. They provide
more eyes

and ears than the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator\'s or the Fire
Marshall\'s

offices can provide. They have a good grasp of how evacuations should be

carried out and give each building Emergency Planner excellent feedback
on areas

that could be improved.

b\. A few of the individuals we trained were students who subsequently

went on to serve missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.

One such, upon returning from his mission to Canada, just had to come by
my

office and report how he used his C.E.R.T. training when he and his
missionary

companion came upon a traffic accident. He was able to stop the injured

individuals\' bleeding and treated for shock before the police or
ambulance

arrived. The professional told him he had done an excellent job, maybe
even

saving the lives of the injured.

For any other university considering establishing a C.E.R.T. program, DO
IT!!

FEMA has the program well developed with instructor aids, lesson plans,
student

handbooks, handouts, etc. Once you have

trained instructors the program takes on a life of it\'s own. My class
for next

fall is already full (all volunteers), with several that will have to be

\"patient\" and wait for the winter semester class.

When you conduct your disaster simulation at the end of each course,
look to

resources available on campus. We have found that the Theatre Department
gets

excited to participate in the simulations.

They use their Make-Up classes to \"create\" the victims and acting
classes to

provide the \"victims.\" The students receive a grade, have fun, and it
keeps our

costs to conduct the program very low. We also

use a maintenance area tunnel under one of our buildings for the
simulation.

We have a significant earthquake potential so we place our victims in
the tunnel

with no lights (even the emergency lighting

is disconnected for the simulation) and place victims under all kinds of

debris, etc.

Kerry Baum

BYU Emergency Preparedness Coordinator

201 TOMH

Provo, UT 84602-0100

E-mail: kerry_baum@byu.edu

Phone: (801) 378-8142

Fax: (801) 422-0711