In recent years, the City of Malibu has worked hard to offer residents a wide palette of services to improve our enjoyment and quality of life. One of the major success stories has been in the hiring of Brad Davis as Emergency Services Coordinator. Brad came to us from a professional stint at FEMA and my wife Susan Tellem and I have been fortunate to have recently completed his very informative CERT classes. The man flat knows his stuff.
CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) is a volunteer program that teaches the fundamentals of grass-roots response to neighborhood and area-wide disasters like earthquake and wildfires. Brad’s “regular guy” teaching style and the supplied CERT Participant Manual set the perfect tone for residents of all backgrounds and ages to learn how to intelligently prepare for, as Brad puts it, “when the bad thing happens.”
While always stressing personal “safety first” and the buddy system, the series covers disaster preparedness, fire safety, how to assess the situation, how to identify and assist victims, light search and rescue, team organization and how to do the most good for the greatest number of people.
Topics covered include several first aid units. The CERT motto is “Me and my buddy will always be safe as long as we do a good size-up.” Brad’s wife Claire assisted in the organization of the classes and taught a very informative segment on the psychology of disaster and how to interact with victims who may be emotionally shattered.
Marshall Thompson