Cert Program

cert update

posted 11/23/22

CERT members went out as soon as they could assessing damage and looking for people in need after Hurricane Ian. They found the community to be strong in helping each other and looking out for their their neighbors.

CERT worked with the North Fort Myers Fire Department to get the tree and telephone pole clear on Congressional CT when a multitude of people indicated they could not access the road.

CERT members helped to get the debris out to the road and sorted for pickup.

This was CERT’s first disaster, a lot was learned, a lot of missed but we had a meeting with other CERT Team leaders this week from various communities and shared ideas and thoughts of what we could do better.

Some ideas to consider for future:

· Main roads need to be cleared ASAP for emergency vehicles, fire department can help with that.

· Generator and walkie talkies at the guard station a must so they have power and 2 walkie talkies for CERT to communicate with each other and the guard shack.

· List of residents who stayed/left.

· Putting an OK sign in your window for drive- by home checks by CERT.

· Early meeting with residents on upcoming disaster with important information, such as special needs shelter.

· Sign outside the guard station indicating the community is ALL CLEAR or NEED ASSISTANCE from the North Fort Myers Fire Department

Christi Kulwicki, NFM Education Director for CERT, Police and fire chief, policeman, fireman and first responders said that the CERT teams and community did a fantastic job on letting them know what was needed. By our diligence, they did not need to come in and check our community cul de sac by cul de sac because CERT was in constant contact them.

North Fort Myers Fire Department will be delivering 4 toy collection boxes in a couple of weeks. They emphasized the need for toys will be greater this year because of displaced families.

For anyone interested in joining CERT, there is a CERT class Nov 8,10,15,17 at Herons’ Glenn from 10-1 and Nov 18th at the NMF Fire House. You must call Beth @ 239-240-0825, class is limited.

The next Lake Fairways CERT meeting is Monday, Nov 7that 1 PM in the lounge. Anyone interested in CERT or current team members are encouraged to come.

Thank you,

Kevin Walsh

Lake Fairways CERT lead

MONTHLY DEMONSTRATIONS

The CERT team is putting on putting on a monthly demonstration of life-saving procedures following Coffee on Saturday at the clubhouse at The Lake Fairways clubhouse. On April 31 the demonstration was the proper use of fire extinguishers. On May 7 it was the demonstration of the proper use of the AED equipment and the life-saving procedure of CPR. The CERT team meets the first Monday of the month at 1 o’clock in the lounge at the Lake Fairways Clubhouse. All members of the community are welcome to join our meetings. The next official training session will be this fall, however we encourage interested parties to join us at these monthly meetings and learn more about how we can help our residents.

CERT Monthly Meeting, April 4, 2022

Leader: Kevin Walsh

Secretary: Karen Pratt

Present: Betty Michaleson, Richard Michaleson, Kevin Walsh, Rawson Beals, Karen Beals, Donna Ferrara, John Donahue

Discussion: The success of the fire extinguisher demonstration by NFFD at Saturday coffee, 4 /2/22. It was a great demonstration of the proper use of the fire extinguisher with a simulated fire display. Residents also learned how to tell if their personal fire extinguishers were still effective.

The lack of attendance at meetings – The meetings are once a month, on the first Monday of the month, at 1 PM in the lounge. Please put these meetings on your calendar. This is the only time we have for planning future training events for our residents and planning for recruiting new members. Members need to put our meetings on their personal calendar and dedicate that one hour a month to the CERT meetings.

The first Saturday of the month seems to be a great day for offering training residents in a life skill. In May, 5/7/22, we will be offering AED/CPR training after coffee. Future discussion will be held with those involved in the training. We do ask that all CERT members wear their vest and lanyards on that Saturday.

Richard Michaleson will be presenting a training program outline for future monthly meetings. The month of May will be traffic control. Easter – we asked for two volunteers to work the Easter program for traffic control, crowd awareness.

CERT will be posting pictures of the fire extinguishers demonstration and Christmas gift program in the Informer and on the website. We would like residents to join us for just basic training in a hope that we can recruit more members. It could be that the extensive one-week training is limiting residents from being involved in our membership. We want to invite volunteers that can be trained in simple, basic procedures, so they can be volunteer members of CERT. They would not be used for the more advanced areas we as members had been trained in. Hurricane season is approaching and simple tasks as checking properties for damage, traffic control, brush clearance, etc., can be done by volunteers with a CERT member.

We will be looking into future fund-raising activities. We also will be looking for more ways to have CERT members involved in community events.

Respectfully submitted, Karen Pratt Beals

Community Emergency Rescue Team

By Kevin Walsh, Team Leader, posted 10/29/21

The Lake Fairways CERT team presently has 18 certified members.

They work in conjunction with the N. Ft. Myers Fire Department.

SAFETY SEMINAR

Recently the team, in conjunction with the fire department, held a Safety Seminar at the Lake Fairways clubhouse. All residents were invited to attend this meeting. The primary focus of this meeting was fire safety and having smoke alarms in homes. Residents that attended this meeting were able to sign up and receive smoke alarms, (provided by the American Red Cross) which were installed later in their individual homes by members of CERT. There were also several other safety identifications available at that meeting; safety reflectors, pet identification stickers for the door, invalid identifications stickers, and ICE packets (emergency medical information) for the refrigerator. The CERT team hopes to have another of these seminars later in the year or in Spring.

CPR

In September the CERT members were offered a class for CPR certification. AED machines were also covered in the class.

FUTURE CERTIFICATION CLASSES

The CERT team plans to hold another class for residents to become Community Emergency Rescue Team members. A date will be announced.

The team also plans to hold other educational classes in the community, that will offer training in other safety issues, i.e., fire extinguishers, first aid, AED.

CHRISTMAS – TOYS FOR TOTS

CERT will be collecting new, unwrapped toys for all age children. Watch for the placement of a large box in the lobby for the toys to be deposited in. More information will be announced.

All this information will be available on the Lake Fairways website, in the Informer, and announced at Saturday morning coffees.

CERT PROGRAM

Toy pickup

posted 12/07/22

Meeting Cancelled

posted 12/07/22

cert update

MONTHLY DEMONSTRATIONS

CERT Monthly Meeting, April 4, 2022

Fire Extinguisher Demonstration by NFFD

CERT PROGRAM