CERTainly Prepared

News for Ohio CERTs from Ohio EMA

2nd Quarter 2020 | V2.2

Van Wert CERT to be Featured in National Newsletter

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Van Wert's CERT program will be featured in FEMA's June 2020 Individual And Community Preparedness Newsletter, highlighting the program's innovative approach to CERT.

Article from the Van Wert Times Bulletin HERE.

COVID-19 and Training for CERTs

Due to COVID-19, multiple trainings are being cancelled.

However, there's an extensive list of relevant courses offered by FEMA and its Consortium Partners.

To download a resource guide compiled by Ohio EMA Training, Click HERE.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information

Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has unrolled two resources to help Ohioans navigate the COVID-19 situation.

coronavirus.ohio.gov is the State's website with links to resources and timely information.

ODH is also staffing a call center, which will be open 7 days a week from 9:00am-8:00pm at 1.833.4.ASK.ODH (1.833.427.5634).

FEMA Course Updates

FEMA has rolled out updated versions of two online, Independent Study CERT Courses.  IS-317.a has been greatly streamlined to provide an overview of what CERT is and how it can be used while IS-315.a brings the CERT and ICS curriculum inline with current ICS / NIMS guidance.

West Shore CERT Aids COVID Efforts

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West Shore CERT (Westlake, Cuyahoga County) assisted with Personal Protective Equipment sorting and assembling face shields with volunteers from other local programs.  Westlake Sun / Cleveland.com article HERE.

2020 National CERT Conference - Rescheduled

This year's National CERT Conference in Springfield, Missouri has been cancelled for 2020 and rescheduled for the same location in 2021.

Pre-conference training will run 12-14 July 2021 with the conference 15-17 July 2021.

Registration and hotel information can be found at the Conference Website.

CERT Survey Snippet #3

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43 current CERT Programs in Ohio provided information on what missions their programs are trained for. 

Here's a couple questions to ask yourself about your missions:

Is your program spread thin by training for too many missions or are you focused on filling certain gaps that your community has?  Are your missions based on your community's hazards and risks?  Do you need to realign your missions to better fit?

Do you know: OCSWA?

The Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness is a joint effort among stakeholders, including Ohio Citizen Corps (including Ohio CERT), to advocate for individual and community preparedness around weather-related incidents.

Check out the homepage HERE for information about the next Severe Weather Awareness Week: June 21-27, 2020 is Lightning Safety Awareness Week.

Ready.Gov: Other Awareness Campaigns

Our friends over at Ready.Gov have a handy calendar for Awareness Campaigns as well.  Check out their HOME PAGE to see what's coming up for the rest of June (Pet Preparedness Month) and July!

Many of these campaigns have social media infographics and other informational documents that CERT programs can use to advocate for individuals and their communities to prepare.

Call for articles / photos / submissions

Washington Post Newsroom - Photo (c): Tom Allen / The Washington Post

Have you ever wanted to see your name as a by-line in a state-wide newsletter?  Do you want other CERT Programs to know how amazing your Program is and your Members are?  Have you had a recent deployment or activation to share?  Do you have a policy, procedure, or guideline that's a Best Practice you want to share with the other programs in the State?

If you answered "Maybe?" or anything more concrete than that, CERTainly Prepared's editor would like to hear from you!  Send your pitch / photos / articles to jdvittie@dps.ohio.gov and maybe you'll see it in a future issue.

Ohio CERT Resources

State of Ohio CERT Coordinator | National CERT Association Region 5 Representative:

Josh D. Vittie, MPA | Ohio EMA - Planner | 1.614.799.3655 | jdvittie@dps.ohio.gov

Ohio CERT Website:

• https://www.ema.ohio.gov/CERT.aspx

FEMA CERT Website:

• https://www.ready.gov/cert

Link to Subscribe to CERTainly Prepared:

• Link in footer section below