For any volunteer effort, it's sometimes challenging to decide which hat to wear when assisting during a disaster. There are two areas to continually develop over time: additional skills/recurrency & awareness of another group's operations.
While CERT and Red Cross have functionally different operations immediately after a disaster, there may come a time to "switch hats" to assist other groups if needed.
Disaster Action Team (DAT) Mini-Institute
Saturday April 18th and 19th is a free Disaster Action Team (DAT) mini-institute at the Arc Enrichment Center at 210 Canada St. This is an excellent training opportunity and is put on in Ojai only a couple of times a year. It is a two-day training session that covers all the basics of Red Cross service and qualifies you to participate as a Red Cross responder.
If you want to extend your full participation in the Ojai Valley "triad" of CERT, Red Cross, and Amateur Radio, sign up for this event. Go out to www.arcventura.org and register for the class. The Institute covers Orientation, Mass Care Overview, and DAT Workshop on Saturday. On Sunday will be Shelter Operations and Shelter Simulation.
First Aid & CPR
Also under Red Cross training is a special class on Wednesday and Thursday this week (15-16 April) from 6:00 to 10:00 PM for First Aid and CPR. The CPR class covers infants, children, and adults - this is not common; usually the class is adult CPR only. If you are already an RC volunteer the cost of the training is $10. If you are not an RC volunteer you can still take the class for $60. Also highly recommended, and you know if you are not up-to-date on your CPR and F/A you need this. Go to the website and register -- www.arcventura.org
