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Contact: Liz Carroll
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Release date: December 13, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First class of disaster volunteers coalesces into a team

GCC trains first Citizens Emergency Response Team

"Franklin County could be faced with a train carrying chemicals jumping the track, for example, and the resources just are not there,” says Marc Tremblay of Sunderland. "Having people trained to respond to disaster situations is important.”

"I think that we were all moved by the events of September 11th,” says Pat Stevenson of Shelburne. "We live in a very different world now and the potential for disaster is ever-present in many people's minds. Also, there have been a lot of budget cuts, and I think this is an area where community members can step in and help out in whatever way we can.”

Marc Tremblay and Pat Stevenson are two of 43 members of Franklin County's first Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT), trained by Dawn Josefski, EMT-P, Assistant Director of Western Mass. Emergency Medical Services and GCC adjunct faculty, at Greenfield Community College for an emerging role in disaster assistance. Now in its second year, the federally-funded grant for a Medical Reserve Corp brings together three key players—Franklin County Council of Governments, the Franklin/Hampshire Regional Employment Board and Career Center, and Greenfield Community College—in a collaboration that depends upon the spirit of volunteerism for its success. Fortunately, that spirit is alive and well in Franklin County.

"We hoped for about 30 people for the first class,” says Josefski, "and 52 signed up! The energy of the people who were there was just amazing. Out of the forty-eight people who completed the coursework, 43 went on to become part of the CERT team.”

The volunteers come from all walks of life and all ages, says Josefski. "We have retired people, and we have young folks, which is good for when you're hauling people out of the woods! Some people can't get around, but they're really good at doing documentation work. We will use you to your abilities.”

Conway resident Kate Clayton-Jones is a graduate student at UMass, a hot air balloon pilot and owner of Lofty Ventures. "I started off thinking, ‘Oh, I'll come out with my CPR and my first aid and a little bit of additional knowledge,' and I came out feeling, ‘I'm a member of my community. I have something to give back to them.' When you find a really great place to live, it's not just about where you plunk your house down and feed your animals, it's about all the people that are surrounding you and the way they treat each other.”

Clayton-Jones says she learned to overcome her fears as a result of the CERT training. "I used to think that I would faint at the sight of blood. I learned that if you keep practicing and work at it, there will be that moment of fear, but you can work through it because you're there to help somebody.”

Mike Bellino of Conway has already used his CERT training to save a life. It happened when he came upon an accident scene "in the middle of nowhere” while on vacation up in northern Vermont. "A fellow about 49 years old was riding a dirt bike, no helmet, and he lost control and crushed his skill on a tree,” recalls Bellino. "Coming upon this was something I hope I never have to deal with again, but I thought to myself, ‘I've got the training.' He kept going in and out of consciousness and I kept talking to him to bring him back. I'd yell, ‘Don't leave me!' and his eyes would open again and then I'd say, ‘I want you to move your right hand' or ‘I want you to wiggle your toes.' If I hadn't kept him awake for the next 30 minutes until the EMTs arrived, he'd have been gone.

"You've got to prepare yourself mentally as well as physically in order to take on this type of a challenge, and that's what CERT prepared me for,” says Bellino. "They gave me a foundation to make an attempt to do this, and then I did the rest on my own.”

Pat Stevenson is the head administrative assistant for the presiding justice at Greenfield District Court. "I have been wanting to get involved with some kind of emergency response team training because down the road, when I retire, I would like to be able to do something like that—locally, possibly nationally, and maybe in the distant future at an international level. Retirement means for me that I will hopefully have the flexibility to do things that really interest me and be of some service to my community, my country.”

Mark Tremblay is a retired paramedic. "I've been doing this for 30 years. I'm retired now because of arthritis,” says Tremblay, "but I've got to serve. I've got to feel purposeful and the only way I can do that is by giving back to my community.”

Since completing their course work, team members have participated in a Mounted Search and Rescue drill, and a mass vaccination drill as part of their on-going training.

Now the fledgling group seeks to position itself as a valuable emergency response player in the eyes of public service providers like fire and police departments, and private organizations such as the Red Cross. "As we get a little bit more cohesive,” says Josefski, "we're hoping to make some more alliances, letting people know that we have a cadre of organized volunteers who are willing and able to help out when called upon.”

The emerging challenges are to establish leadership and build a sense of camaraderie. "I'm trying to allow them to determine where the group goes,” says Josefski, who has been drawing on her background in recreation leadership to strengthen members' esprit de corps. "I think they're just a great group of people, and for them to keep coming back, volunteering on their own time, says a lot for who they are.”