Boro has first certified emergency response team

BY CHRISTINE VARNO

Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH -- After several years of planning, West Long Branch has established its own Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

At the Dec. 21 municipal meeting, 17 borough residents received their CERT certificates, becoming the first emergency response team in the borough's history.

"I am so proud of our first team," said Councilwoman Barbara Ruane, one of the program's managers at the council meeting.

"They were conscientious, enthusiastic and exceptional team players," she said. "It's reassuring to know that we have such a capable group to rely on in an emergency."

The team graduated on Dec. 9 after completing eight weeks of classroom training and participating in a hands-on practical exercise, according to Ruane.

The volunteer team members were trained in basic first aid, family disaster preparedness, fire suppression, medical operations, CERT operations, disaster mental health, basic emergency management and light search and rescue.

"We are so fortunate to have a CERT team in West Long Branch," Ruane said. "This team, this class, was absolutely amazing. I just could not have asked for a better group."

Ruane, along with Councilman J. Thomas Debruin and Mayor Janet Tucci, were among the CERT graduates.

"It was tough," Tucci said at the council meeting. "I only hope that I never have to use the skills I have learned."

Ruane said the team is "now prepared to respond to natural and manmade emergency situations in West Long Branch and neighboring communities."

The idea for a CERT team came in the aftermath of September 11, Ruane said.

"In January 2002, [President George W.] Bush started the Citizens Corps for people who wanted to volunteer," Ruane said.

"When 9-11 occurred, so many people wanted to help, but they had limited skills and there was a shortage in emergency responders," she said.

The Citizens Corps acts as an umbrella for the CERT team, Ruane explained.

"We wanted to start our own team back then," Ruane said. "It took a while getting going and last year we finally got the go-ahead from the mayor and council."

"I was pretty excited when we finally got going," Ruane said.

Ruane, an emergency management consultant and weapons of mass destruction instructor, along with the team's co-manager Fred Migliaccio, West Long Branch emergency management coordinator, both completed their CERT instructor training through the state Office of Emergency Management.

According to Migliaccio, the West Long Branch CERT class was an "impressive group of students."

"At each class, they were all so eager to learn," Migliaccio said. "They appreciated the fact that the training provided them with invaluable information that they can use to not only benefit their community, but to educate their families, friends and neighbors on emergency preparedness."

CERT members are certified to give critical support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site, Ruane explained.

The team can also help with non-emergency projects that improve the safety of the community, she said.