Wentzville School District Hosting Emergency Preparedness Training

WENTZVILLE, Mo. - April 14, 2015 - PRLog -- Emily Rosenblum, a senior at Holt High School in Wentzville, Missouri, has once again brought the #1 emergency preparedness and national youth training program to the Wentzville School District as part of America's #PrepareAthon! and her “legacy project” for the FEMA Youth Preparedness Council.  Rosenblum is the national chairperson and oversees 15 nationwide representatives from the ten FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) regions, and travels to Washington, D.C., to participate in community preparedness discussions with leaders of national organizations.

For two weekends in April, Wentzville School District hosted the Mid America TEEN CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program at two of its’ schools; April 10-11 at Timberland High School and April 17-18 at Liberty High School.

The specialized emergency preparedness and response training course is taught through the top-rated Mid America TEEN CERT program.  The class for the school district is tailored to include a live fire exercise with the Wentzville Fire Protection District, and an extensive student search and a real-time, life-like simulated disaster exercise at the high school, so the students experience the reality in their most probable environment. The post disaster “hot wash” portion of the training teaches the students what is normal, expected, and abnormal. Most importantly, students will learn how to manage stress, assist with peers and people with special and functional physical needs, and recognize signs and symptoms of disaster-related psychological actions throughout the 24-hour training. The class culminates with the realistic exercise to demonstrate the newly learned emergency skills of the students.

As national chairperson, Rosenblum’s objective is to hold at least two TEEN CERT trainings at the middle and high school level per year, in addition to the several other classes she helps to teach. Additionally, she is teaching the FEMA Ready Kids and Sam, Ready I Am program to elementary age students later this month. Rosenblum deploys to Great Lakes, IL in August to begin Navy boot camp and plans on becoming a Hospital Corpsman.

While the Wentzville School District was the first district to officially initiate TEEN CERT in Missouri, other schools as well as other districts around the area are requesting the training in their schools.  Special clubs and school organizations such as HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Future Health Professionals, etc., request the course to gain better understanding of emergency and disaster medical operations.  The possibility of the TEEN CERT program is being considered as a permanent part of the curriculum, and the education department is currently reviewing cost and resource impacts.

Timberland High School is located at 559 E. Highway N in Wentzville and Liberty High School is at 2275 Sommers Road in Lake Saint Louis.

For more information on TEEN CERT or emergency preparedness, please contact Emily Rosenblum through the FEMA Youth Preparedness Council at FEMA-Youth-Preparedness-Council@fema.dhs.gov or YPCChairman@gmail.com.