Husband-and-wife team will offer more CERT trainings

Imagine a scenario where you’re driving on Highway 4, and you come across a car accident where an individual has a life-threatening injury and is bleeding out. Do you know the proper steps needed to stop or control the bleed?

Community Emergency Response Team, otherwise known as CERT, provides an all-risk, all-hazard free training program available in both Hood County and Cresson. The course is designed to help individuals protect themselves, their family, their neighbors and their neighborhood in an emergency situation.

The 20-hour Hood County course is taught by husband-and-wife team Mike Brewer and Sheila Castleberry, who had decided to restart the CERT program in Hood County two years ago.

“I found CERT through the Sheriff’s Posse, when one of the guys mentioned there was some CERT training that he was going to go to in Cresson,” Brewer said. “A couple of them there said that Hood County didn’t have their CERT program anymore, so Sheila and I volunteered to restart it in Hood County.”

The CERT program recently finished its six-day spring course in March, with 24 individuals earning their CERT basic certification. After receiving their certification, there were about 18 applications wanting to apply to join the Hood County CERT team.

“One of our mottos is to train and retain. We want to train people,” Brewer said.

Normally, CERT training is only offered once a year, but as interest grows, Brewer said they are going to try to host another course “relatively soon.”

“CERT training is like health insurance,” he said. “You know you need it. You know you gotta pay for it. You hope you never use it. That is what CERT is."

Working together as instructors gives Brewer and Castleberry an activity to do together and a way for them to give back to the community.

“Being able to volunteer, being able to train and take care of ourselves and others is the push. You either need to learn to do it or teach others, so that's what we're doing,” Brewer said. “You got to do something to give back and I think everyone would tell you that that’s why they're in the posse — that's why they're leaders because giving back, volunteering is the thing to do.”

Whether it’s putting out a fire, providing first aid, preparing for a natural disaster or demonstrating a search and rescue, the CERT program teaches individuals that their knowledge can make a difference.

“Just before our last meeting at the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), there was a motorcycle accident on Highway 51 North heading into town and one of the ladies coming to class was one of the first ones there. She knew what to do and what not to do,” Brewer said.

He also talked about the time that a motorcyclist had an accident with a truck, but a gentleman a few cars back saw the accident, pulled over and knew what to do.

“He stuck his finger in that guy’s leg, pinched off the femoral artery and kept him from dying — that’s why I do what I do,” Brewer said. “There's two things you can't live without: air and blood, and you've only got three minutes, so if you're the first one there, and you stop the bleed, then there's a better chance (that person will survive). That should be enough for anyone to go, ‘I can do that.’”

Brewer said sometimes students in the class will get overwhelmed with the exercise, especially if they make a major mistake.

“This is where you screw up. This is where you learn,” he said. “We can teach you to do this. That’s why you’re here. Being part of the leadership is identifying what people can and can't do — help them with what they can't do and help them grow with what they can do."

He said the most rewarding aspect of the training is when a “lightbulb” comes on in a student’s mind and they realize, “Hey, I can do this.”

“Using a fire extinguisher, you get people who’ve never even picked one up and then are taught how to use one and why to use one; those are the moments,” he said. “Being aware, being able to take care of ourselves, our family, the neighborhood and the community, that can be everyone's goal. If you just save one person, then you're doing good.”

For more information about Hood County CERT, email Brewer at mike.brewer13@pm.me.