Davina Witts

In attendance: Chuck Rader (Cox Division), Davina Morgan-Witts, Ray Froess, Betty Froess, Susan Schwaderer, Leland Mah, Marion Yager, Robert Yager, William Brooks, Sally Suckow, John Suckow.

Most of the group met at 6.20 p.m. at Bill Brooks’ house so as to review the contents of our division cache, and how to get into it.

The group reconvened at 7.00pm for the main meeting:

• We briefly reviewed upcoming training opportunities. These are updated and detailed in the monthly newsletter sent by City Manager, Crystal Bothelio. Please a) look out for the newsletters, b) read them, c) sign up for training/volunteer opportunities that are relevant and of interest—with the aim of attending three or more a year, so as to keep your skills fresh. And, please do not wait until the last minute to sign up because training sessions may be cancelled if there are insufficient attendees – which is what happened with the shelter simulation workshop which should have taken place recently—2 weeks before the event, 15 people had signed up but 18 were needed to run the exercise, so it was cancelled.
  
  
• Under new business, Chuck Rader (Cox Argonaut captain) spoke about the three-day CERT conference he recently attended in San Diego. Some of the take outs from this are:
  
  
  • California governor Gavin Newsom is very enthusiastic about CERT – as shown by the fact that 425 participants (including Chuck) were fully funded for the 3-night conference, including hotel accommodation.
    
    
  • The vision at the state level for CERT is that each county will have an organization similar to Orange County’s, which regularly makes use of their CERT volunteers—for example, during the recent wildfires, CERT members were tasked with providing food etc. to the firefighters (obviously at a safe distance from the active fires), thus freeing up the emergency services to focus on the core matter in hand.
    
    
  • There is a movement to standardize equipment, training, forms etc., across all CERT in California, and to better link the many individual city/county groups, so that CERT members could be efficiently mobilized to work in other parts of the State, if a need arose. The model here is Florida.
    
    
• Chuck Rader led the training element of our meeting, discussing the key elements of the division level Emergency Operation Plan (EOP), including:
  
  
  • Activation: We must wait to be activated by an official channel such as Alert SCC, City of Saratoga emergency responder telephone tree, or emergency broadcast radio communication; but this does not prevent us assessing our immediate areas as concerned neighbors (but until activated, we should not be wearing CERT vests, etc.)
    
    Please make sure to have fresh batteries in your radio and keep FRS radios tuned to Channel 11 as communication will likely come down from the central emergency operations center (EOC) to the licensed ham operators and then to the members of the division by FRS. (FRS back up channels are 10 and 12; if your radio has a code option–the little number to the top right of the larger number on some radios–set it to 0.
    
    
  • Setting up and operating a field CERT Incident Command Post (ICP) and Overview of CERT communications:
    
    Our default meeting location is Bill Brooks’ house, where the cache is located (address removed for public minutes), but the reality is that the location of the incident command post in an emergency may need to move close to where the emergency is—which is why it is important to be able to communicate by radio (on the assumption that mobile communications could be either out of action or overwhelmed).
    
    Chuck encouraged us as a group to follow Cox division’s lead and hold regular FRS radio check-ins to make sure that we know how to use the radios and understand how to relay messages from person to person, thus enabling messages to be passed across a wider distance.
    
    Optimally, we should have more hams in the division. Currently there is just Ray and Betty Froess, Bill Brooks and Davina (Madelyn Lipford is also a ham operator but is traveling for the foreseeable future).
    
    If you are interested in becoming ham licensed – contact Davina for information – in addition to the one day “ham cram” that many take with a test at the end of the day; there are plentiful resources online, including YouTube video talks and interactive test papers to help you learn in your own time, and then you can take the quick multiple choice test on any of the many testing days.
    
    
  • Establishing, staffing and operating a field medical treatment site, including how to best utilize spontaneous unaffiliated/untrained volunteers (SUVs)
    
    Chuck asked us to consider how we would function as a group and in teams during an emergency, and how we could best utilize unaffiliated/untrained people if they volunteered their services.
    
    Some of the considerations for a field medical treatment site include: the need for one centralized site vs. multiple decentralized locations. Also, the site(s) should be easily accessible by ambulances and/or other emergency vehicles, and should provide for rapid expansion, if required. Leadership of a field medical treatment site takes special knowledge and skills in closely managing attending personnel in a dynamic, high-stress environment. Head-to-toe assessments should be conducted expeditiously (and always with permission when the person is conscious); and, optimally, always by two CERT members working together, both to ensure a thorough examination and to avoid harassment claims. Documentation of incoming patients and their ongoing status while under treatment or observation is a critical element in exercising leadership of a field medical treatment site.
    
    Spontaneous, untrained/unaffiliated volunteers (SUV’s) may provide an additional source of manpower to assist with post-disaster response, but there are some key caveats associated with their use. They must be “locally vetted” to ensure they will not be put in a position that exceeds their knowledge or skills. They must be closely monitored in execution of any assigned duties. They should be provided a clear, concise briefing of what CERT expectations are of their use. Finally, it must be remembered that they are not covered under the liability protections of the DSW-V program, unlike CERT members, so they must never be placed in positions where their safety and health are at risk.

In attendance: Davina Morgan-Witts, Caron Whitacre, Marion Yager, Bob Yager, Susan Schwaderer, Ray Froess, Betty Froess, William Brooks, Candy Brooks, Craig Pietrow, Tina Hubbard, Sally Suckow, John Suckow, Stephen Ng, Chuck Rader (Cox Division)

Minutes

1. Craig Pietrow distributed FRS radios to those with DSW cards who do not have a radio.

If you have not yet got a Disaster Service Worker card, please get one soon as you will not be eligible to be activated without one. Contact Lori McKenna in the City’s planning office: http://saratogacert.org/documents/

2. If you are in need of CERT-related equipment, including a radio, contact Craig direct (email address removed when posting online).

3.The meeting discussed upcoming training opportunities, in particular STOP THE BLEED on April 25. Please sign up at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/saratoga-stop-the-bleed-tickets-58746913600
at the time of writing there are 4 seats left for the early session, and 13 for the later one.

Other training opportunities are in the monthly Saratoga CERT newsletter, and in the attached handouts:
– 2019 CERT Refresher Training
– Additional Training Opportunities
Please attend all that you can.

4. There are six CERT Academies each year, one in each of the cities in the Santa Clara County Fire Department. Saratoga’s event runs April 30 – May 19. Please encourage friends and neighbors to sign up, particularly those already involved with Neighborhood Watch.

5. The meeting discussed, and Davina later distributed, information on the location of our emergency cache, and other relevant division information including contact information for all active members of the division.

7. Marion Yager volunteered to be deputy logistics supporting William Brooks. Thank you Marion! Our division is in need of a deputy or co-lead to support Davina.

8. Chuck Rader led the group in a focused training session on the first section of the Emergency Operations Plan for Cox Division. He has graciously agreed to lead future sessions covering the remainder of the EOP. Volunteers are needed to help develop Argonaut CERT’s own division EOP. This will be relatively easy as we can build on the work already done by Cox division, editing only the elements that are specific to our division, such as location of cache(s), meeting points, etc. Please contact Davina if you are able to help.

MEETINGS IN 2019

• 22 members of Saratoga CERT attended the first general meeting of 2019, plus Michael Taylor and Crystal Bothelio from the City of Saratoga. This is the largest group at a general meeting for many years, possibly for all time, and the level of enthusiasm was high!
• Crystal will be taking over for Michael Taylor, when he retires this summer, as the primary contact between the City of Saratoga and the Saratoga CERT volunteer program.
• The plan is that there will be a general meeting every two months. In addition, there will be meetings at the division level as relevant, plus many opportunities for training—see below for more on this.

DSW CARDS

• Michael Taylor encouraged ALL active members of CERT Saratoga to get their DSW card because soon, a DSW card will be required in order to be activated. Cards can be obtained most Fridays from the City Planning Office. See: http://saratogacert.org/documents/

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS MANUALS & EQUIPMENT

• Michael Taylor informed the meeting that there are now 13 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) positioned around the City and that all Santa Clara County Police vehicles are now also equipped. He asked the meeting for approval to buy an AED for the CERT trailer for a cost of $1600. The meeting agreed: Ayes 20, nays 2. Michael will provide a list of locations for all the City’s EODs so that this information can be kept as part of the Emergency Operation Manuals (EOD) for both the City and divisions.
• Michael informed the meeting that he is close to completing a fully developed EOD for the City. He is currently working on sections to cover wild fires and CERT.
• Charles Rader is also close to completing a CERT division level EOD for Cox Division, which can then serve as a model for other divisions. Charles observed that the EOD currently does not have a section to cover the care of animals—which he has undertaken to create.
• The meeting discussed the need for a secure online location either, within the current Saratoga CERT website or at a third party, where the EOD, contact lists, etc. can be kept—enabling both easy access to the information for CERT members, and the ability to keep documentation up to date and in sync across the City divisions.
• The City has enough FRS/GMRS radios to provide one to all active CERT members with DSW cards. Craig Pietrow is responsible for distributing these and can also provide and stock backpacks for those who don’t have one yet. Upcoming distribution dates will be in the monthly newsletter. Radios can also be made available at division meetings.

DIVISIONS & LEADERSHIP

• Saratoga CERT now has active divisions for Cox, Quito, Vineyard and Argonaut, but there are still a number of active CERT members in areas that are not within a division. The meeting discussed the need to get all members of CERT connected to a division even if, for now, it was not in their immediate area.
• Brent Hailpern is currently responsible for both leading Saratoga CERT and for managing all aspects of IT. He needs somebody to take one of these responsibilities from him as soon as possible. There is also a need for deputies in many positions and division captains in areas with no current active division.

TRAINING

• Michael Taylor informed the meeting that the City buildings have recently been recognized by the Red Cross as priority shelters. West Valley College and Redwood Middle School are already recognized. The City/Red Cross needs people (who don’t have to be CERT) to be trained as volunteers. This 3-hour class is scheduled for Thursday Feb 28, 6pm.
• A Ham radio infrastructure is developing across Saratoga, and the hope is to be able to start offering Ham training in Saratoga soon. The intent is that all Saratoga CERT will have an FRS radio and that there will be sufficient CERT members in Saratoga with a ham license, so that, in the event of SCCAlert failing in an emergency, we can be activated by radio. Ham Crams continue to be available in Los Gatos. The next one is Saturday Feb 9.
• Campbell CERT have invited Saratoga CERT to join their training classes, which is a fantastic opportunity for us in Saratoga – as Campbell is a very well-established division with excellent leadership and training.
• All who attended Campbell CERT’s Stop the Bleed class said it was excellent. Unfortunately, classes are now fully booked, but the intent is to make the class available in Saratoga later this year. All CERT are encouraged to attend, date(s) to follow.
• Campbell will be running a “Miserable Exercise” in February – the intent being to practice our CERT skills, not on a nice warm Saturday morning but on a rainy day in the dark! Those who have taken part in this in the past, speak highly of it. The exercise will take place on either Feb 4 or 5, with three days’ notice (the date will depend on the weather forecast and the number of interested participants available on each day). All are encouraged to take part.
  See 1/26 post for details.

 OUTREACH

• Jessica Fullmer asked for volunteers to help staff outreach events at The Blossom Festival (April 3) and the Classic Car Show (July 28).
• CERT members are encouraged to meet with their local neighborhood watch groups (e.g. attend one or more meetings) so as to talk about CERT and encourage participation. Optimally, each neighborhood watch group would have at least one active CERT.  
• The country drill at Moffat Field in Fall 2018 was a great success. There will be no country drill in 2019 but one is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2020.
• There will be a number of County Ham drills during 2019 and the meeting discussed CERT members getting involved. The next one is Feb 23, 10am-12pm.
• Residents of Saratoga can attend training in any city served by SCCF, but the CERT training for Saratoga will take place in April and we hope for a really good turn out of Saratoga people–which will require us all to help spread the word!  See http://www.sccfd.org/images/documents/community_education/CERTAcademySchedule2019.pdf