Free public basic C.E.R.T. training July 9 - 10

The Lapeer County Office of Emergency Management would like to announce the next series of FREE Basic C.E.R.T. Training to be held Saturday AND Sunday, July 9th and 10th. This course is free and open to the public.

The (CERT) Community Emergency Response Training program is designed to teach citizens how to care for themselves, their family, and their neighborhood in case of an emergency or overwhelming disaster. It will give you the skills needed to reduce risk in your community and is a great first step in helping make our community safer, stronger and better prepared! No matter where you live, no matter who you are, we all have a role in hometown preparedness.

If you would like learn more about the CERT program, or to register for the upcoming class, please visit our website at:

http://www.lapeercountyemd.org/cert/training.htm PLEASE NOTE: Pre-registration (via the website above) is required to attend! Class size is limited. An on-line course must be completed prior to attending and you must attend BOTH days of training.

Or click on the CERT link in the right column.

Information on Disaster Exercise

There will be a disaster exercise scheduled for Thursday, June 16, from 8-9 a.m. in the parking lot of Lapeer East High School. This is simply a drill.

The time to plan for winter emergencies is before the snow flies and traps you inside

“Ole’ Man Winter” is upon us again. There are some important questions that seniors, especially those living alone, need to ask and have answered before the next big storm knocks out your power.

It is my belief that an informed person is a better prepared person and the following information will hopefully help you understand more fully winter emergency help. Once you have the information the time to start making your plans is today.

Where will you go when the power goes out? Do you have a friend or relative that you can stay with? Do you have a back-up generator? Do you know how to safely use it? What about that beloved pet, Fido or Fluffy?

First, one of the most important things that you should have in your home is an old-fashioned corded telephone to allow you to call the power company and/or 911 should you need emergency help. A cordless phone will NOT work when the power goes out! A corded phone only plugs into the telephone jack, not a power outlet! Also, don’t count on a cell phone working either -when the power goes out, the cell phone lines get overwhelmed and often do not work in a large outage. Corded phones range in price from $5 - $15 at local stores.

Is calling 9-1-1 for a warm shelter an emergency? YES, when you have absolutely no where else to go (i.e. family, friends, etc.) and staying in your home is your only option! Lapeer County has pre-determined Warming Shelter locations. Each weather emergency presents different situations (i.e., a pre-designated shelter may be snowed and inaccessible or the shelter may not have power, etc.), which means we have to wait until an event occurs to tell you where the nearest one is to you.

There’s some important differences between a warming center and a “shelter.”

Warming Center – just what its name implies, a place for someone to go and get warm. They can be quickly and easily opened. They can be at churches, township halls or service club halls.
Depending on the location, they are not usually equipped to accommodate feeding or sleeping
arrangements. They are not meant to be for long term stay, however, in some cases
they can be easily converted into a “shelter”.

American Red Cross Shelter – these are opened in facilities that the American Red Cross has a pre-
Established agreement with. They take anywhere from 1-3 hours to set up. When set up, they can handle mass feeding and sleeping for several days to weeks. They require
many volunteers to manage. A trained medical person is on duty at a shelter.

A decision to open a warming center or shelter, depends on a variety of factors: 1) How many residents need sheltering? 2) Is this the only community that has been affected? 3) How long is the power expected to be out?

Lastly, if a resident has extenuating circumstances and needs to be taken to a shelter, Lapeer County Office of Emergency Management will make ever effort to make sure that person is transferred and comfortable in a shelter environment. PLEASE NOTE: At this time shelters will not accept pets. However, if there are numerous requests to house pets, the Lapeer County Health Department/Animal Control Office MAY be able to provide some support. But to be absolutely sure your pet is taken care of, the time to make those plans is NOW!

Again, what can you do now? PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. There are numerous resources out there to help you develop your plan! Certainly, one of the best things you can do is to sit around a table and “talk” about what you would do IF…a tornado struck, power went out, a snowstorm kept you from leaving your home!!

Remember, once the emergency is here, it is too late to plan for it.