By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - On a blustery Wednesday night in November, the pitch-black Agnes Gregarek Building at the Cass County Fairground might as well be the Niles Haunted House for all the things going bump in the dark.
Don't go in the basement.
It's “smoky” cellar could pass for monster-movie mist.
A woman's screams are real, even if she's not going into labor.
There are bodies under every heap of folding chairs.
The first team in will quickly assess the scene and tag them red for urgent injuries - both of the writhing pregnant woman's legs are broken - green for secondary wounds, such as lacerations or sprains, and black for deceased.
Stick close to the wall crawling the perimeter or risk plunging into the “hole” marked off on the floor with tape.
Since Halloween is past, this flurry of activity near the spooky still midway can mean only one thing - a final mock disaster for the Cass County Sheriff's Office's second Community Emergency Response Team - CERT -before they return to the E-911 Emergency Operations Center (EOC) conference room, 130 N. Broadway, for presentation of certificates to the 16 graduates and a pizza party with their instructors for 20 hours of volunteer training over eight weeks.
In 95 percent of all emergencies, the victim or a bystander provides the first immediate assistance.
Would you know what to do?
CERT training prepares participants to help themselves, their families and their neighbors in event of a disaster.
During a real incident, emergency service personnel might not be able to help reach everyone immediately in a rural area such as Cass County.
Getting trained in CERT provides skills to help emergency responders save lives and protect property.
Under the direction of local emergency responders, CERT teams - Dowagiac also has one - help give critical support by giving immediate assistance to victims, providing damage assessment information and organizing other volunteers at a disaster site.
Volunteers trained in CERT also perform duties such as shelter support, crowd control and evacuation.
A CERT volunteer's role is to help others until trained emergency personnel respond.
In addition to supporting emergency responders during a disaster, the CERT program builds strong working relationships between emergency responders and people they serve.
CERT teams help the community year-round by assisting with emergency plans, neighborhood exercises, preparedness outreach, fire safety education and workplace safety.
Rick Tyrakowski of Wayne Township urged team members to report to the group leader because while for this exercise the command center was inside the building, they would usually be some distance apart.
The incident commander then briefs arriving first responders with their best “guesstimation” of victims inside.
While the triage area, making splints, would have liked a light source besides their flashlights stabbing to and fro, slicing the hazy air like light sabers, “You're not always going to have light,” Kelsheimer said. “You had five people in triage. You could have had two of them holding flashlights.” One man illuminated his own rescue by holding the flashlight in his mouth.
Sheriff Joe Underwood told graduates, “It takes a real commitment to give up your family life to come in here and be more active in your community.”
The sheriff assured graduates of the previous class who attended, “We want to continue the training process. It doesn't do any good to do it once and then wait for an event to happen. We have to have ongoing training. I'm really proud of the people we have committed to bring the training forward. We had more people sign up to become trainers than I had spots available. That's what it's going to take when we have an event is what we're able to bring together. Law enforcement can't do it by itself. Neither can the fire departments or the ambulance services. We all need trained community volunteers. Thank you for taking the time to become involved.”