Youth Preparedness Events Toolkit

4.1 FAQ

Q: Where can we order CERT bags and what all do they need to include?

A: Several websites offer CERT branded supplies. You can order individual supplies or pre-built kits. Here is a list of suggested things to include:

    • Hard hat
    • 10-inch crescent wrench*
    • Medical gloves (two pair)
    • Duct tape (10-yard roll)
    • Dust mask (two each)
    • Emergency blanket
    • Flashlight, with batteries
    • Work gloves
    • Light stick / Glow stick
    • Safety goggles
    • Whistle, with lanyard
    • First Aid kit – 52 pieces
    • 4-in-1 Sparkproof tool*

*We recommend removing these two items from the packs when working with students. They make great graduation gifts at the end of the program.

Q: What plans need to be made for the final exercise?

A: The final exercise is scalable and largely depends on what type of volunteers you can recruit and your trainers’ experience and preferences.

A few things to consider:

  1. Simulate an incident as realistically as possible – moulage (simulated injuries), role play victims, environment and set-up are critical. Your scenario should be something participants would actually encounter (i.e. volcano in Texas is not a realistic scenario)

  2. Test participants in as many training areas as possible (command establishment, medical triage and treatment, communications, etc.)

  3. The exercise should run long enough for the participants to have a realistic experience, but not so long that they get frustrated. By this point, the training team should be familiar enough with the participants to gauge attitudes.

Q: Where can we find someone to do moulage for our exercise?

A: Check with your local CERT to see what support they can provide. If there is not a team with moulage experience near you, you might also ask a local theater if its make-up department can help.

Q: Why is CPR not included in the agenda?

A: CPR requires a trained facilitator, a fee to register the course, and an extra 6-8 hours of agenda time. It can be offered as an additional training before or after your event, or you can build it into your agenda.

Q: Do we need to do any type of evaluation on our camp?

A: This is completely up to your organization! Some funders will require evidence that the event was a success or that participants gained skills or knowledge during the training. You might also consider using the information from a pre- and post-test comparison for areas of improvement for next year. Sample pre- and post-tests can be found in Section 4.2.

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