August 14, 2024 • 50 mins
Can ordinary citizens become heroes during a disaster? Discover how Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) help everyday people play essential roles in emergency situations. Join Take It To The Board host Donna DiMaggio Berger and guest Dr. Jesse P. Spearo, the Emergency Management Administrator for Miami-Dade County, as they share insights into how CERT volunteers provide critical support, from coordinating community events to distributing supplies during major incidents.
Donna and Dr. Spearo delve into the activation and organization of CERTs through Emergency Operations Centers, illustrating how trained volunteers are mobilized to support first responders and assist community residents until first responders can arrive on the scene. They discuss their crucial duties, including distributing food and water, conducting damage assessments, taking preliminary life safety measures with the injured and handling specific regional hazards like hurricanes, flooding, and heat emergencies. Listen to compelling stories of how CERTs have made significant impacts, including the success of Teen CERT initiatives and the integration of these programs into school curriculums.
In their conversation, they explore the structure and operations of CERT teams, highlighting the Incident Command System (ICS), leadership roles, and the importance of continuous training. They also touch on the legal protections and medical coverage provided to volunteers under the Good Samaritan Law. Wrapping up, Dr. Spearo shares his journey into emergency management and offers practical advice on supporting emergency efforts. Tune in to learn about future trends in the field and how you can get involved in making your community more resilient.
Conversation Highlights Include:
- Types of emergencies or disasters CERTs typically respond to
- Volunteer training and costs
- Key roles within a CERT team
- How CERT members are deployed during an emergency
- Communication channels used by CERT members
- How CERTs integrate with professional emergency services
- CERT members and liability in Miami-Dade
- CERT equipment
- Steps for a condominium or HOA interested in setting up a CERT
Related Links:
- Podcast: Surviving the Storm: A Journey Through Hurricane Ian and Beyond with Joseph E. Adams, Becker & Poliakoff
- Podcast: Keeping Cool With Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer, Miami-Dade County
- Resources: CERT Training Information
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi everyone.
I'm attorney DonnaDiMaggio-Berger and this is Take
it to the Board where we speakcondo and HOA.
How many of you know that theacronym CERT stands for a
Community Emergency ResponseTeam?
Even for those of you who knewwhat a CERT is, do you know
exactly what these volunteers do, and have you ever considered
the benefits of implementing aCERT in your community
(00:23):
association?
Have you ever considered thebenefits of implementing a CERT
in your community association?
Today, we're diving into theworld of CERTS with a special
guest who knows what it takes tokeep a community safe in the
face of an emergency.
Joining us is Dr Jesse P Spiro,who is the Emergency Management
Administrator for Miami-DadeCounty and a public safety
professor.
Dr Spiro has worked as asuccessful public safety
practitioner for over 20 years,having worked in the private
(00:46):
sector and at all levels ofgovernment, including federal,
tribal, state, county andmunicipal.
He is the author or co-authorof more than 50 emergency
management plans andpublications, and regularly
presents his findings atnational and international
conferences.
In 2022, dr Spiro was appointedas Assistant Director at
(01:06):
Miami-Dade County Department ofEmergency Management, where he
is responsible for thepreparedness and resiliency
efforts for one of the mostpopulous and vulnerable areas of
the country, that would beMiami-Dade County.
Additionally, dr Spiro is anadjunct professor at several
institutions, including FloridaInternational University and
Georgetown University.
I'm excited to be speaking witha true expert in turning chaos
(01:30):
into calm today, so let's dig in.
Dr Spiro, welcome to Take it tothe Board.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, thank you so much , donna, really looking forward
to today.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
We are too, especially because, as we're
taping this, it is July 19th, sohurricane season in Florida has
already kicked off.
I'm actually taping this inNorth Carolina.
The weather here has beenstrange.
We've seen some erratic weatherpatterns throughout the country
, but I wanted to start out withsome basics.
So what are CERTs and why do weneed them?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So great question.
So, donna, the communityemergency response team is a
concept that's been around formany decades and it's really
designed to empower citizens tobe that basic first responder.
Because we have our lawenforcement, we have our fire
rescue, our public safetyprofessionals that are there.
(02:19):
That's commonly referred to asyour first responders, but the
common person is the initialresponder.
That's there.
They're the people that aregoing to be there to help
somebody that's injured, hurt inan accident, fallen.
There's a disaster, anemergency it could be a fire, a
flood, hurricane, tornado,whatever it is.
That's the first person there.
(02:40):
So the CERT program trainsthese individuals how to respond
and empowers them to takeaction and feel comfortable in
that decision-making process.
And that's really what the CERTprogram is designed to do is
empowerment.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So what kind of emergencies, Dr Spiro, would
CERTs be trained to respond to?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So there's all sorts of things that we train in the
CERT program but basically, onceyou're part of a CERT team and
you're a volunteer with thatprogram, in that given
jurisdiction, you have theopportunity to assist that
jurisdiction with various events.
That might be a community 5K,that might be a sporting event,
(03:20):
that might be a larger incidentlike a festival or something
even larger than that.
They have the ability to assistthe first responders by
providing rehab for theresponders and rehab is usually
food and drink and keeping themcalm and safe during these
activities that they'reperforming long hours on or to
(03:41):
help those that are attendees atthese various events with minor
injuries, such as triage ofwhat that injury is.
At these various events withminor injuries, such as triage
of what that injury is, could behanding out bandages, ice packs
, referring them for additionalservices.
They could hand out water.
They could also support otherentities for that event as well.
Now for the emergency situation.
So let's back this up and saywe have two classifications of
(04:05):
incidents and how we kind ofdirect our resources.
We have blue sky days, which isthose events that we can go and
assist on, and then we have ourgray sky days, which is the
emergencies fires, floods,hurricanes, pandemics, you name
it.
Oh my, there's a lot that's outthere.
So if you're part of anorganized team and program, you
have the ability to be deployedto assist in various emergency
(04:29):
operations that might occur atthe local emergency operations
center, providing EOC supportfor them.
That might be anything frombeing a scribe to assisting in a
phone bank, to helping with thefood unit that feeds all the
responders that are associatedwith that given incident.
You also might be deployed outin the field to assist in that
(04:52):
response.
We would oftentimes, inhurricane situations, implement
what's known as pods or pointsof distribution.
These pods are designed to giveresources to the public after a
large-scale disaster such as ahurricane.
We might hand out kits of food,water and other necessities
(05:14):
like toiletry kits or safetykits or anything else.
In a line they would be theones that are doing that, so
they're really a forcemultiplier.
They could also be doing otherthings, such as damage
assessment.
They could be in the volunteerand resource unit, where
resources come in from communitymembers wanting to volunteer to
(05:35):
assist others that have beendisplaced by the disaster.
They can organize the suppliesthat come in and then they can
help to distribute those kitsout to individuals within those
communities.
Come in and then they can helpto distribute those kits out to
individuals within thosecommunities.
There's really a wide range ofopportunities for CERT programs
and it does vary by jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well, I want to touch on the pods, the point of
distribution.
So I had my partner, joe Adams,on the podcast a couple months
ago talking about his personalexperience in Southwest Florida
during Hurricane Ian.
They were stranded, he was onFort Myers Beach.
I remember him saying that themilitary had come in and they
were handing out water andemergency supplies.
Florida during Hurricane Ian.
They were stranded, he was onFort Myers Beach and I remember
him saying that the military hadcome in and they were handing
out water and emergency supplies.
So do these CERTs coordinatewith the military, with local
(06:14):
government, in terms of whatthey'll be doing versus what
other governmental agencies orthe military might be doing in
the aftermath of a massivecatastrophe?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I did work in SouthwestFlorida for a number of years as
the Emergency ManagementDivision Manager for the city of
Cape Coral and we responded toIan and our CERT team actually
helped and assisted in points ofdistribution, as well as in the
panhandle after HurricaneMichael, in which we did damage
assessment and a lot of othersupport up there.
But the team in SouthwestFlorida for Ian as well for Irma
(06:48):
, they actually assisted thatprocess with the National Guard.
So what happens is those teamsare activated through the
Emergency Operations Center.
Those individuals that are partof that team are given phone
calls, emails or a call tree toreport into the EOC for a given
period of time.
Those that can volunteer thattime and assist are then allowed
(07:10):
to be part of that activationand they're given basically
marching orders.
As to this is what the situationis.
These individuals, thesecommunities need this help or we
need this resource.
Your job during this timeframeis to help do this and then they
would go and help support andhand out that food, the water,
hygiene kits, emergency supplies.
So they're given a veryspecific mission and that also
(07:32):
varies by how those certs areorganized in that individual
jurisdiction.
Some have very large teams thatare countywide, some may be
smaller teams that areassociated with a city and there
may be even more micro teamsthat might be neighborhood-based
and they may be tasked withdoing damage assessment or
wellness checks on the residentson their street or block or
(07:55):
neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
But it sounds like the first responders actually
welcome this kind of assistance,not as if they're saying we've
got it, we're the professionalsyou can stand down.
It sounds like they're actuallywelcoming the assistance that
the certs can provide.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
You're absolutely right.
First responders todayoverwhelmingly, for the most
part, welcome certs to help be aforce multiplier and augment
their response.
You know, volunteers are greatand needed for any incident, any
emergency and disaster, butCERT members are particularly
valued because these lawenforcement professionals, these
(08:30):
fire departments, emergencymanagement departments and most
communities know that theseindividuals have gone through
trainings, they are experiencedin operations of disasters, they
know the process, operations ofdisasters, they know the
process and they have gonethrough.
When it comes to the individualteams for response, they've
gone through background checksas well.
(08:50):
So we know that we are gettinga good force multiplier that's
coming into assisting with thedisaster response operations.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Now I have to tell you one of the things I love
about doing this podcast is theinformation I learn from experts
like you.
You mentioned the blue sky days.
So I had two years ago JaneGilbert, miami Dade's chief heat
officer, on the podcast andtalking about the climbing
temperatures that we're seeingaround the country, and she had
(09:17):
some great advice about what todo and when to know.
You know when to know when youneed to take a break.
Then I also had Dr JasonMansour, who's the chair of
emergency medicine at BrowardHealth.
I am not a CERT member, but themore I hear you talk, this
actually came into play becauseone day my postman and I'm
almost never home, but I washome and he pulls up and I
(09:39):
thought I'll go out.
There was very hot, I'll go outand I'll say hi to Dan.
He literally fell out of thevehicle and he was.
He was having heat stroke orpotential heart attack and I
brought him in and then Iremembered what they had told me
.
You know ice peas under thearms and here in the groin and
get it in, get them in air andget some water going.
You know it's freeing.
So it was amazing to me, Iimagine cause you talked about
(10:02):
the blue sky is that you've gotcerts who are trained now to
treat heat stroke.
Correct, can you tell me whatthe training consists of?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, absolutely so.
It's about a 25 hour course andthis is set up from a FEMA
standard that's been around fora number of years.
So in this class and the classalso varies on how it's offered
and here in Miami-Dade County weoffer several of these classes
throughout the entire fact weactually have more people that
want the training than we havetrainers to actually do the
(10:31):
training, and that just goes toshow that there is a supply and
demand challenge.
That's there, which is good.
We want to see that.
We want to see that people areeager, interested to get
involved in this process andlearn these critical skills.
So it's divided into nine units.
(10:52):
You can do this over the courseof nine weeks.
It can be a three hours a dayon a Wednesday afternoon.
You can actually put it ontotwo weekend classes where you
might have a class on a Friday,saturday, sunday and then
another class on a Friday andSaturday.
You might do a hybrid stylewhere you'd have the first
couple of units would be virtualand you can log in that way and
then do the other half of thecourse in person, more hands-on.
(11:13):
So there's lots ofopportunities to do this, but
the nine classes that make it upis in the first unit we talk
about disaster preparedness.
So this really sets the stagefor the individual to know about
what they can do in disastersituations, the basic
fundamentals of disasters,disaster response, and we really
(11:34):
teach people about the hazardsthat they are going to face in
their individual givencommunities.
So Programs in the West Coast ofthe United States have a
different risk hazard thresholdthan we do in southeast Florida.
They have earthquakes, theyhave wildfires.
We don't really experience thatdown here.
Well, let's hope we don'texperience those down here.
(11:56):
Ok, I'll set that out thereright away.
So they teach, they'll do somefocus modules on those
individual hazards themselves,do some focus modules on those
individual hazards themselves.
Down here we have a particularfocus on flooding.
So we cover all the basics thatare in the fundamental FEMA
program that we have and then weadd some with the flooding
events that we can see, thehurricane situations that occur
(12:17):
and then this increase of theseheat emergencies.
So we train these individualson how to recognize these
threats and hazards.
So that's the first unit.
It's a very great and excitingunit.
Second unit we go into CERTorganizations.
So how are basic CERT programsdesigned, organized, run,
managed in blue skies and, ingray sky situations, disaster
(12:45):
medical operations.
So this is pretty cool becauseyou actually get a first look
into how those EMS personnelEMTs and paramedics and fire
rescue personnel encountervarious emergencies from medical
emergencies, from heart attacks, strokes.
There could be broken bones,lacerations.
So we give you those high leveloverviews of identifying and
(13:06):
recognizing those injuries andwhat you can do to mitigate
exposure to that, provide firstaid and assistance, and how to
recognize what can be done tohelp aid them and then call 911
as well.
We get into disaster psychologyas well when we move on to the
fifth unit.
So in disaster psychology,disasters really change up how
(13:30):
we have our normal daily life.
So it disrupts those routinesand that is a challenge for a
lot of people.
A lot of people are used towaking up in the morning, having
a cup of coffee or goinggetting it at the coffee shop
and they have routines that theyget into and they're
comfortable in that.
But when you disrupt thatthere's a lot of psychological
impact.
So we talk about psychologicalfirst aid, how to recognize the
(13:53):
signs and symptoms of stressthat are related to emergencies
and disasters and what you cando to aid others and also be
mindful of your own personalhealth and wellness.
That's a very important unitnow that we're.
You know we have so many thingsgoing on today in our
individual lives and out therein the community, in the world,
so this is a good way to reallyhelp kind of bring a little bit
(14:15):
of calm to these emergencysituations.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, and I wanted to ask you, before you move on to
the next units, what about thepsychological impact on the CERT
volunteers themselves?
Because there have to be anumber of judgment calls these
people need to make when they'retriaging, when they're deciding
.
You know when to call 911, whatto do until the first
responders can show up.
You know how do you deal withthe different judgment calls
(14:38):
that volunteers may make, and Iwould imagine some get it very
right, but some maybe don't.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, this is where it comes down to each
individual's comfort level aswell.
So everybody is covered by theGood Samaritan Act.
So the Good Samaritan Actallows you to provide assistance
.
Render that aid to what yourlevel of training and comfort is
.
So there are people we have88-year-old grandmothers that
(15:04):
take this class and program andabsolutely love it and they can
provide assistance to whatevertheir physical and mental
capacity is to do.
So Then we also train them Like, if you're not able to pick
someone up or crib an injurywith the proper material that
you have around you, we givethem those skills and those
(15:26):
points as to what they can doCall for support, call 911,
document the situation, getassistance etc.
So there's, you know, a persondoesn't have to automatically
assume that I'm cert trained soI should go out there and be
this initial first responder outthere.
That's really not the intent.
The intent is to kind of buildthat foundation of knowledge and
(15:48):
that comfort level with atleast responding in the initial
phase to help support somebody.
So I'll give an example here.
So I had a CERT member in aprogram that I oversaw, that
recently had taken the class andhe was a former law enforcement
officer of 25 years.
He had retired, he hadn't workedfor nearly 10 years but he was
(16:09):
still active in the communityand wanted to volunteer.
So he took the CERT program asan opportunity to re-engage with
the public and brush off hisskills.
It wasn't more than a weekafter they had graduated the
program that they were down at anice restaurant on the beach on
a Sunday morning enjoying thebeautiful view when somebody had
had a heart attack right infront of them.
(16:30):
He had recently gone throughthe program and he took part of
the optional course, which isthe CPR course, the AED training
, and he knew automatically whatto do based off of that recent
training he had.
First thing he did was point tosomeone, say call 911.
You document what I'm doing,sir, are you OK?
(16:51):
You know, go through thatprocess of asking if that person
needs assistance and thenperforming first aid and CPR on
that individual, and then thatindividual ended up having first
responders come and take themto the hospital and they end up
surviving that incident.
So that individual responded inthe capacity that they were
trained in and were comfortableable to perform.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And had a comfort level with it.
But if I'm hearing you, itsounds like you know a wide
range of people could beeligible to serve on certs.
I imagine you don't takechildren, so 18 or older is one
threshold.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
No, absolutely not.
There are successful teen certprograms across the country and
if I could wave my wand and makethis a requirement in schools
today, I would have teen certprogram be an elective in high
schools because students canreally learn these lifelong
(17:43):
skills to help them to helpthemselves, their neighbors,
their families and theircommunities in the future.
We recently partnered withMiami-Dade Fire Rescue on their
junior lifeguard program.
It's a lifeguard program, it'slike a summer camp program where
they take students of teenageyears so between the ages of 12
and 18, and they put themthrough a junior lifeguard
(18:05):
training for a summer and theyget lifeguard training and they
get, you know, they talk aboutrip currents and it's a, I think
, a three or four week activityto go through.
We recently added the teen CERTprogram to that, so that's what
they did in the afternoon.
So we just had a group of theseyoung men and women graduate
from their first teen CERTprogram through the Junior
(18:25):
Lifeguard program.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Do you find a lot of enthusiasm, dr Spiro, from teens, from
young people, to get engaged?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
We do, they're actually more receptive than
some of the adults are.
So I'll put it this way I'vebeen an emergency manager for
over 20 years and I find thatthe most engaged population I
meet with are students and thosethat are younger, Because for
us to really as emergencymanagers, for us to get the
message out about preparednessand community safety I can talk
(18:56):
all day long to everybody in thestreet, but they got a lot
going on in their lives.
When it comes to even ourelementary, middle school and
high school students, they'remore receptive to that
information when they hear itfrom a trusted expert.
They bring that informationhome to their family and they
talk about that.
They share that information.
Then the parents and the auntsand uncles and grandparents get
(19:18):
interested in as well, andthat's how we turn a new
generation on to preparednessand community resilience.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I hope whoever needs to hear your message about
adding that to the schoolcurriculum hears it and maybe
acts on it.
So we left off withpsychological unit.
What comes after that?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
After that is fire safety and utility controls.
So this is where you get tolearn how to properly use a fire
extinguisher.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So I need that training.
I'm going to say I need thattraining.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Is it because of your cooking in the kitchen on
Friday nights?
Is that why, Donna?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I cook.
I'm Italian, so I'm cooking allthe time, and I really should
know this.
Ok, I'm listening.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So we so not a lot of people have pulled the pin on a
fire extinguisher and know howto properly use it.
So we teach you those skills.
We also teach you a little bitabout fire science knowing and
understanding how fires work andhow they expand and how they
contract and the different typesof building material and how
the fuels go into fires and howthey expand.
So that's like a little bit ofa science class.
(20:16):
So this is where you know BillNye, the science guy, would come
in and talk about this, and sothis is a kind of a cool little
aspect and we typically have alot of our fire rescue
department personnel teach thisbecause they're the ones that
live and breathe this every day.
But that's the module we getinto and it's pretty exciting.
A lot of programs gets to uselive fire.
So there is like a fire pan.
(20:36):
It's a controlled fire module,a simulator that they can
actually put out a fire, put outa fire.
There's more virtual ones wherewe have electronic versions and
then there's basic ones inwhich we basically will just
walk them through the wholemuscle memory of using a fire
extinguisher.
But the basic building skillsof fires is a big part.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So important, so important.
I don't want to embarrassmyself, but I have an electric
grill just for this reason.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That's all right.
That's all right.
It could be worse.
It could be worse, donna, don'tworry about it.
After that we just got a couplemore units left and we do light
search and rescue operations.
So we teach people about somelight search and rescue that
they can perform at their homein their community if something
happens.
So if you've been theunfortunate survivor of a
(21:23):
disaster like a hurricane or atornado or a severe weather
event and your roof gets blownoff, your neighbor's house is
damaged due to flying tree ordebris, this is an opportunity
for you to safely go in andassess tools and lifters and do
(21:44):
all this stuff.
But we're teaching about thefundamentals of how to properly
leverage and move various itemsto navigate for life safety
purposes.
So that's a very importantmodule that we do.
And then our last things that wedo is we kind of wrap the
course up with our terrorismmodule.
(22:04):
So we look at the impacts ofweapons of mass destruction
module.
So we look at the impacts ofweapons of mass destruction, we
look at signs of recognizingpossible nefarious actors and
terrorism.
So this builds that capacityfor individuals to recognize
suspicious behavior that couldoccur in their communities and
then what to do in thoseemergency situations.
Say, if there's an activeshooter, there's a hazardous
material incident, there'ssomething that goes on and they
(22:26):
have to take action.
So, once again, if you caninform people, teach them about
these concepts and the optionsand opportunities they have to
keep themselves and others safe,they're going to be able to the
mass shootings, because we'veactually taught classes to
community associations on activeshooters, Because that hasn't
(22:50):
happened in a condo or an HOAyet.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
But you never know and there are certain principles
I understand that if you followyou know, you increase people's
chances of success.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
So absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
This sounds very comprehensive.
Nine units, is that oversequential?
Sequentially nine weeks.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Dr Sphera.
So you can do it over nineweeks.
So I've been part of programsin which we've done it over nine
week periods.
I've been part of programs inwhich we do it over the course
of two weekends.
I've done it where we've brokenit up into three weekends.
It's all.
It all depends on thejurisdiction and the interests
associated with it.
But after you're done with thosefundamental modules, we do a
(23:30):
course review.
There's a final exam.
Don't worry, there's no bluedots that you have to put
through a Scantron and you haveto pass fail.
There's a good opportunity foryou just to know what your level
of your skills are at thatpoint and then at the end of
that level of your skills are atthat point.
And then at the end of thatthere's a disaster simulation in
which you actually get to applythese concepts that you've
learned over the course of theweeks of the program.
So you do some cert formation,building your team and some
(23:52):
leadership within a cohesiveunit in a neighborhood.
You do some light medicaltriage.
You do a little bit about firesafety operations and light
search and rescue.
So you have a chance toactually apply those skills.
So this is where you get to seeit, you get to read it and then
you get to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You've got me sold.
I'm serious, I want to takethis training.
Is there a cost associated withthe training?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Absolutely not.
It is all free.
It is all part of your abilityas a community member to go and
take part of these programs.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Amazing, and is any part of it online or is it all
in person?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Dr Spiro.
So FEMA recently launched a newonline version of this in which
you can take a couple hourclass.
It's a CERT fundamental class,so that is not a substitute for
the actual nine week or the ninemodule in-person class, but
this is kind of like more of theintroduction to that program.
It's available free onlinethrough the FEMA Emergency
Management Institute, or FEMAEMI as we call it, and it has a
course number associated with it.
(24:54):
It's got materials and linksassociated with it.
So that's just one of theopportunities.
So if you're not able to go inperson at your local
jurisdiction to take part ofthis, at least you can take the
online class to have a littlebit of a background on these
concepts with CERT.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Just a little dipping of the toes into the CERT pool.
So the T in the acronym CERTstands for team.
So let's say I have ahomeowner's association and they
say this sounds great.
Is there a minimum number ofpeople they need to create a
CERT?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So that's another good question because it's
different for everybody.
But this is what we say is wedon't need for you to be part of
the CERT team to be a member.
Getting the CERT training itselfis the benefit that keeps on
giving.
When we have the CERT teamcomponent, which is organized,
(25:44):
you can have a formallyorganized program like we do in
Miami-Dade County or the city ofMiami or Miami Beach.
They have very well organizedand run organizations but you
can actually be CERT trained inyour area and bring your friends
, neighbors with you to takethat training as well, and then
you can have your ownneighborhood CERT and you can do
these own activities well, andthen you can have your own
(26:05):
neighborhood cert and you can dothese own activities yourself.
You can host regular, you knowcoffee shop meetings with your
cert members that have graduatedand gone through the skills.
You can share disaster relatedinformation with one another.
So you don't have to be part of, like the formal process or
that formal team with thatcounty or that city entity.
You can have your own littleneighborhood association in
(26:28):
which you meet up on a basisthat you determine and you
collaborate on these safety andresiliency concepts.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Assuming you're part of a larger CERT team, though,
is there a hierarchy, dr Spiro?
Are there different key rolesamong the team members?
Speaker 2 (26:43):
There are.
So we apply what's known as theICS concept.
So that is the incident commandsystem.
So this is the FEMA standardthat we utilize for all of our
first responders, all levels ofgovernment, in the private
sector.
So you have your what's knownas command.
Those are those individualsthat are responsible for setting
the priorities and objectivesfor the organization, and then
(27:04):
you have your general staff.
So general staff would be likea planning section chief, an
operations section chief,logistics, admin, finance, and
then there's what's known asvarious branches and directors.
But I can get into ICS, fematalk and people might I might be
losing people at that point.
It's simpler for us and itdepends by jurisdiction, but for
us we've actually gone throughthe process of revamping our
(27:25):
CERT program, but we would haveCERT leaders that would be
organized into these CERT teamsand then they would also have
various individuals withassigned roles that they might
be a pod unit leader, they mightbe a food unit leader, they
might be a logistics unit leader.
A part of that team there maybe individuals that do damage
(27:46):
assessment operations oradministration or scribing, and
there's typically a couple oflayers to that hierarchy.
You find that those that havemore background or experience or
more interest might be in moreof the leadership roles, and
those leadership roles do changeto typically rotate by people
getting that experience in them.
Leadership roles do change totypically rotate by people
(28:07):
getting that experience in them.
They may be those that are theleaders within those individual
neighborhoods or thoseassociations or in that county
or city organization and theymay have members that are just
there to be part of it and aidwhere they're asked to go.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
After the initial training, is there ongoing
training that needs to berenewed?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
It doesn't need to be renewed.
But what we say is we encourageour CERT members to get
involved in advanced andrefresher training.
So what does that mean?
So we offer a number ofadvanced and refresher trainings
here in Miami-Dade County.
It's everything from carbonmonoxide awareness we recently
launched a severe weatherawareness campaign that we've
(28:46):
been doing.
We've been giving communitypresentations about the three
big threats that we see here inSoutheast Florida and we call it
our trifecta of hazards.
It is flooding, heat andhurricanes.
So we go out as emergencymanagers and teach the community
members about these.
But we also have CERT membersthat come and sit in on these
(29:08):
trainings, as well as certainmembers themselves delivering
these trainings.
Some other advanced andrefresher trainings that we give
is recognizing stroke, stop thebleed campaign, cpr, aed,
special needs awareness, masscare and points of distribution.
So those are just some of thoseopportunities that individuals
(29:28):
can take part of.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
So how does the CERT team get?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
deployed.
So how we do it in Miami-DadeCounty is this last year, with
Hurricane Adalia, the FloridaDivision of Emergency Management
gave our program a call.
They called me up and said hey,jesse, we're looking for a good
CERT team to go and be deployedup to the Western part of
Florida that's been impacted.
(29:51):
Are you able to muster up Xnumber of volunteers for X
period of time?
I said let me give you a call.
So I rounded up the variousmembers that we have that had
interest and availability andthen what happened is they were
given a mission number, which isbasically marching orders from
the state to deploy, with ourDepartment of Emergency
(30:14):
Management personnel to an areato provide assistance.
So we deployed I believe sevenmembers of our CERT program
along with got flooded, help,tarp roofs, deliver food and
water supplies to thecommunities, and they had some
(30:43):
specific marching orders thatwere necessary.
But it was all very organizedand we had a team leader, a
member of our staff.
We have a great CERT managerfor our program, jessica
Sandoval, that's been doing thisfor a number of years.
That led that effort out there.
So they had a marching orders.
I believe they're out there forabout 10 days.
Their efforts were recognizedhigh and wide, not only by Dixie
(31:05):
County the neighborhoods thatthey served, but also Florida
Division of Emergency Management, volunteer Florida, as well as
our county mayor and countycommission for their efforts.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Oh, that's amazing.
I'm going to drill down, though.
Did you tell these folks here'swhere you need to be and they
transport themselves, or werethey transported there?
Speaker 2 (31:25):
We transported them there, so we gave them a time in
which we would need them toreport to our emergency
operations center.
They showed up with theirsupplies, so they had CERT
backpacks and supplies necessaryfor a period of about two weeks
in order to respond out there.
We provided them extraresources and aids, such as some
food, some water, some extrabatteries, radios, any other
(31:49):
equipment that we thought thatthey might need, and then we
transported them out there aspart of the Miami-Dade County
deployment out to Dixie County.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
You mentioned the Good Samaritan Law a little
while ago.
You know, in terms ofprotecting these volunteers if
they're assisting and thensomething goes wrong or they're
not able to help somebody.
What about if the volunteers,if the CERT members, are injured
or harmed in some way?
Are they entitled to workers'compensation or anything else in
(32:22):
terms of resources from localgovernment if that happens?
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
If you are part of amission-deployed asset, so
you've been tasked by theFlorida Division of Emergency
Management, through the localjurisdiction, to respond with
that CERT team, you would getdeployed and you would be
covered under that state mission.
So you'd be covered medicallyif something does happen with
you.
And there has been incidents inwhich some volunteers have been
injured.
So I was part of anotherprogram before in which one of
(32:47):
our CERT members, on one of thefirst days running shelter
operations up in the panhandleafter Hurricane Matthew, was
injured and he got first aidthere at the scene.
After a few days he came backto the jurisdiction and he was a
vet that wanted to actually usethe VA instead of using that
jurisdiction's insurance andgoing through that process.
(33:08):
But if he didn't have the VAthen he would have been covered
underneath that jurisdiction.
Now it does vary byjurisdiction as well, so but if
you are part of a deployedresource mission from the state
to the local jurisdiction andyou're part of that team, you're
covered.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
You know you mentioned in Miami-Dade
specifically flooding, heat andhurricanes, but there was no way
to prepare for Champlain TowersSouth and the collapse and
we've talked about that a lot onthe podcast, because this is,
take it to the Board.
We're talking about communityassociations.
We've talked about how the lawshave changed to require older
buildings to be inspected morefrequently to make sure these
(33:46):
communities are reserving funds.
Were any of your CERT teamsdeployed to Champlain Towers
after the collapse?
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, during that time we utilized some of our
CERT members to provide rehab tothe responders as well as to
the community members as well.
So those that were displaced,those that are working there at
the scene, so they provided thatassistance to them.
So this is an opportunity forindividuals that want to
volunteer and assist but theydon't know how.
When you're part of a CERT teamand a CERT program, you really
have that direct link to givingthat very specific, direct
(34:19):
assistance when needed and whennecessary, and there's never
enough volunteers that are outthere to assist.
So we're always welcoming newmembers to take part of this
program, because we don't knowwhen the next disaster is going
to come or how big it's going tobe, and the assistance that the
individual can provide on anyof these from a building
collapse to a hurricane isreally really well appreciated
(34:43):
and supported by individuals incommunities.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Do CERT members get a kit?
Do they get the bleedingcontrol kit?
Are there certain resourcesthat you say here you go, take
this home with you, and when wedeploy you bring it with?
Or I'm just wondering you knowwhat kind of resources are given
to these certs?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, a lot of times jurisdictions once members
graduate and they're part of theteam and they're members of
that team and that also variesby that jurisdiction as well,
like what constitutes a memberon that team.
Typically there might be acouple of refresher trainings
throughout the year or a coupleof meetings to attend.
That keeps them like an activemember, and then what happens is
(35:22):
that's how they get access to,like these feet, these cert kits
, which are backpacks, which hashard helmets in it, gloves,
bandages, it has a pry bar,flashlight, battery.
It's basically your basicrescue kit.
Is right there.
Those are typically distributedand that varies by jurisdiction
.
But also the more somebody isinvolved in the program, the
(35:45):
more access they get to thesetools to help them if they were
going to be deployed to anincident or they were impacted
by an incident as well.
So the opportunity is there toget these resources to help
support them.
But also we help to teachindividuals how to get those
resources, source those locally,from a home.
A lot of people have a lot ofthose supplies sitting around
(36:08):
their house that they didn'tknow can be used for an
emergency situation.
So it's what we call the go kit.
You can walk around and find thedrunk drawer that's got extra
batteries in the extraflashlight.
Here's some bandages, some tape, some ice packs, here's some
canned goods, here's some waterbottles.
You put that into a box.
That's your kit, right there,that's your go kit if something
happens.
And then what happens is themore involved you are in the
(36:31):
program or the more you want tobe prepared.
There's things that you can goout and source yourself to build
up that kit further, and weactually help, give you tips and
tricks on how to pull thattogether.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I have a law partner who's a very dear friend of mine
and he's always talking abouthaving a go kit.
He's like Donna, do you have ago kit yet?
So now that I've heard it twice, I think I better look into it.
It's time.
This is probably time.
Can anybody get kicked out of acert?
Like what if you got deployedand you said I'm not going?
Is there any way that a certever gets loses their
(37:02):
credentials?
Or a particular cert member maybe told you know what no more,
you're not a good fit for theteam.
Does anybody ever get kickedout?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
No, because it's a volunteer program.
So it's your volunteer and yourtime and I don't have the most
recent number associated with avolunteer hour, but I think that
the value of a volunteer houris approximately $28 an hour.
So if we get a team of 10people volunteering five hours a
day, 10 days a week, 10 days aweek, well, that's a long week,
(37:33):
seven days a week for a disaster.
You know what we can actuallydo.
We can take that volunteer time, we can calculate the dollar
value associated with it andthen that goes to the match that
would be required for us for afederal disaster declaration.
That's a whole nother story,but they can actually help save
these.
These volunteer hours can helpsave that local community money
(37:56):
in the recovery process as well.
But it's all voluntary.
We're not gonna kick you outNow.
There may be times in which wehave volunteers that might not
be the best in some emergencysituations and we have leaders
that are part of these teamsthat can recognize that hey,
maybe this disaster might not beright for this person or this
emergency or this situation.
You know there might be aconflict that comes up, there
(38:18):
might be a stressful situation,a psychological stressor that
emerges in them.
You know we are trained asemergency managers to recognize
that, help diffuse that andprovide other avenues and
opportunities for them to be inwhich is a little bit more safe
and controlled, in which theycan still provide that support
and volunteer.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
So, dr Spiro, can you tell us a little bit about your
background and how you gotinvolved with emergency
management?
First of all, were you a BoyScout?
I was, I knew it.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And my mom was a troop leader too.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Okay, does not surprise me, so tell me like
were you a serious kid oh no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
My teachers would say no, and my catechism teachers,
the nuns.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
They would say they tried to kick me out okay,
actually that's a wholedifferent podcast, because I
went to catholic school too and,uh, not for not for very long.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
So I'll tell you about my background.
So I'm from Northeast Wisconsinand both my grandparents, my
father's grandfathers they wereboth veterans.
One was from World War II, hewas part of the Army Air Corps,
which was a forerunner totoday's Air Force.
And my other grandfather, mymaternal grandfather, was in
Vietnam and he was in the MarineCorps.
So we already had a sense ofpatriotism and community safety
(39:35):
and resilience.
So that was already baked in.
My mom worked for the sheriff'soffice for 15 years as well.
Community service andengagement was just always in my
blood.
I went to college for criminaljustice and political science
and I was fortunate enough toget an internship with the
United States Marshal Serviceand I was all excited to be
(39:57):
Tommy Lee Jones from the USMarshals and the Fugitives.
So if you're old enough to knowthose movies, that's who I
wanted to be During that time.
That was right around and rightafter 9-11.
Well, in federal lawenforcement they were doing a
lot of this emergency managementstuff and the chief marshal at
(40:18):
the time in a meeting said to meJesse, if anybody can figure
this emergency management stuffout, they're going to do really
good in the marshals.
And that was a light bulb thatcame on for me.
So what I did is I exploredwhere can I go to get a master's
in emergency management tobuild my capacity and skills.
At that time, over 20 years ago,I was only able to find three
programs in the country.
There was a University of NorthTexas, there was North Dakota
(40:39):
State University or there wasLynn University in Boca Raton,
florida.
I chose Boca Raton it wasn'tbecause of the beaches, that was
just I was going to say is itthe weather?
No, it was a positive attributeto that, but what it really was
is the diversity that exists andthe hazards that southeast
Florida and Florida is exposedto.
I figured, if I wanted to bethe best public safety
(41:00):
practitioner I could be, I needto be with diverse populations
in diverse hazard situations sothat I can serve those
populations better.
And then what ended uphappening is the 04-05 hurricane
season came along.
And then what ended uphappening is the 04-05 hurricane
season came along.
So those that rememberHurricane Charlie, Jean Francis,
Wilma, all of those I just cutmy teeth in it and just ended up
staying in emergency managementever since.
(41:21):
And then I've been able tonavigate various organizations
and elevate myself to aleadership position in one of
the largest emergency managementdepartments in the entire
country.
But also along that way I saidyou know, I'm getting this great
experience.
I'm helping the community,there's still more that I can
learn and there's still morethat I can do.
So then I went on and got a PhDin emergency management.
(41:43):
Very few programs are availableas a doctoral program in
emergency management and I'm oneof that few individuals in that
first phase that came into thisprofession that not only has
this experience in it, but alsohas the degree of emergency
management, professional anddoctorate.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I'm sure you've seen the industry, the emergency
management industry evolve overthe time you've been involved in
it.
Where do you see it heading inthe next couple of years?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
So I'm part of a great organization.
This organization here inMiami-Dade County recently
became its own department.
We used to be a division of thefire department for over 20
years.
Our mayor, mayor Daniela LevineCava, elevated emergency
management from a division to adepartment, a standalone
department.
She gave us a larger budget,she gave us 19 new positions,
(42:37):
because she knew that there areemerging threats and trends that
are impacting our community inSoutheast Florida and that
emergency management needed astronger platform to address
those.
So emergency management haschanged quite a bit in the 20
years that I've been part of itand it's changing a lot more.
So as a new profession, it wastypically occupied by retired
(42:59):
firefighters, police officersand military people.
Today it is a very diverse,multidisciplined profession with
people with backgrounds inArcGIS, education, marketing,
chemistry, you name it.
They are all part of this andthey bring a lot of skills.
So where I see emergencymanagement going in the future
(43:21):
is emergency management, andthis is our mission in
Miami-Dade County is we arethere for all your hazards and
emergencies.
We are there for the floodingevents, the hurricanes, the
fires, the floods, the cyberincidents which we had today as
well a global cyber incident.
We are part of that tip of thespear that is there to help plan
for, respond, to recover,mitigate and become more
(43:43):
resilient for these hazards inthe future to your mayor, levine
Cava.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
she seems to be a real visionary.
By the way, I don't live inMiami-Dade, I live in Broward,
but I will tell you, betweenwhat she's done with the chief
heat officer's role and what youjust explained, she's done in
terms of making emergencymanagement a standalone
department.
I think it's an example of howvisionary she and her
administration has been.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Absolutely.
She is very forward-leaning onthis and this is what is very
important and critical is youhave to be forward leaning,
knowing about these hazards anddisasters, and she recognized
that.
That's why she has a chief heatofficer the world's first.
She has a chief bay officerworking on water quality issues
with Biscayne Bay.
She has a chief resiliencyofficer and a standalone
department of emergencymanagement.
(44:29):
So this is what I tell mystudents when I teach them
Emergency management is a lotlike an insurance policy you
don't want it until you need it,and if you don't have it, it's
too late.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
So for those of us who are not members of a CERT
and we don't think we're goingto become members of a CERT, how
can we still?
Speaker 2 (44:48):
support emergency management.
So this is critical thateverybody have a plan, have a
kit, be prepared, be informedand be involved.
So those are five little stepsthat you can take along the way.
So part of that process ishaving a plan, having that kit,
knowing what to put in that kitIf you're going to evacuate
where are you going to evacuate?
To Knowing the threats andhazards that exist.
(45:10):
We have three.
We actually have three hazardseasons right now that are all
overlapping one another.
It starts off with our floodingseason and our heat season and
then rolls right into thehurricane season, all within
about a six week period.
So community members just needto be aware of the hazards that
they're more likely to facegiven that period of time, given
(45:33):
where you are.
So if you are up in theCarolinas, you have different
hazards than we do down here inSoutheast Florida, just like in
the Midwest, just like out Westas well.
So just know those tools, thosetips, those hazards that you
face.
That helps to get you moreprepared for what can
potentially happen.
So if you know that you are ina wildfire risk area or you're
(45:53):
in a area prone to riverineflooding or in the evacuation
zone due to hurricanes.
Have a plan on what you'regoing to do if that does happen.
Most of the time when thesedisasters occur, a behavioral
analysis study is done and themajority of people say that I
didn't think it was going tohappen to me, I didn't think it
(46:13):
was going to be this bad, Ididn't think about what I should
have done.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
That's great advice.
Listen, you're talking tosomebody who, when I get on an
airplane, I count the number ofrows to get out makes my kids
crazy.
So even after this episode, Ican see I'm going to be sharing
it with them and they're goingto be like mom, please enough,
but I'm the one who's countingto say you know, we need to know
how to get out of here.
(46:37):
We need to know, you know.
So you're preaching to thechoir a little bit with me.
Do you have any particularlymemorable success stories that
you could share with ourlisteners in terms of certs?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
I do, and it's a recent example from Miami-Dade
County here.
So our team was asked by thestate to deploy to Dixie County
and we deployed up there and weprovided assistance to residents
that were really in need of it.
They had lost their roofs, theyhave lost their homes.
In some circumstances they losttheir belongings.
(47:16):
Across an individual that herhusband had recently passed and
he was a veteran, and she hadlost a lot of the contents in
her house due to, you know, theroof being damaged and the
windows being blown out, a lotof water intrusion, so a lot of
her personal belongings had beendamaged.
That didn't bother her as much,as the flag that was in the
front of the house that wasflying was blown away and found
yards away all tattered up.
So our team took it uponthemselves to go down to a store
(47:38):
that was open somewhere acrosscounty to buy a new American
flag, to put the flagpole backup, and then they did a flag
raising ceremony for thatdisaster survivor.
She was so eternally thankfulfor that just kind gesture that
we went out of our way with tohelp her with, and that is a
(47:59):
memory that she will keep withher forever because one we
didn't need to do that.
Secondly, there was otherthings that were probably more
pressing than that in her life,but she was really wrapped
around that thing and our teamrecognized that and we I really
want to throw my hat off to youknow, jessica, and the rest of
the Miami-Dade County volunteersthat went and assisted in
(48:20):
particular with that individualcircumstance- Well, what you
just described is a level ofempathy that made a real impact
on that person.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
I do want to thank you and your department and your
staff for what you do.
I think it's amazing.
I hope people listening willwant to, you know, think about
either joining a local CERT orcreating one in their community
Towards that end.
Where can our listeners, drSpiro, find out more information
about CERTs?
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Absolutely.
So individually within yourgiven jurisdiction, it's going
to be different everywhere.
So, individually within yourgiven jurisdiction, it's going
to be different everywhere.
So, but for us in Miami-DadeCounty, you can get information
about CERT by going tomiamidadegov, slash orgorg,
slash DEM, or you can email usat CERT C-E-R-T at miamidadegov,
(49:06):
or you can search onlinethrough your given search engine
tool CERT, fema.
So that is for CommunityEmergency Response Team and FEMA
, and that opens you up to anetwork of a lot of great
resources that are across theentire country and you get to
learn more about those valuableprograms and those flagship
programs that exist.
And just to let you know, donna, there are over 2,800 local
(49:28):
CERT programs across the country.
If you don't have a CERTprogram in your community and
you want one, call up your localemergency management department
, call up your local firedepartment and say, hey, I want
to get involved, I want to giveback.
Can we get this program?
In fact, that has recentlyhappened in my hometown of
(49:50):
Gibraltar, wisconsin.
They had a severe weatherincident occurred in which there
was power loss for several days.
People were snowed in.
Now they've decided to createand fund a CERT program for Door
County, wisconsin, based off ofthat incident so they learned
from it.
There was cries out there forpeople that they wanted to have
that program and now it's goingto get implemented up there in
Northeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Well, dr Spiro, you've inspired me.
I'm going to take the training.
I'm going to do it probably inBroward, though Probably not
going to drive to Miami We'llsee but I'm going to take this
training, so maybe you'll comeback on after I take the
training?
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Absolutely, and I'll even come on up there and say hi
to you as well.
Thank you so much for your time.
It's been my pleasure.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Thank you for joining us today.
Don't forget to follow and rateus on your favorite podcast
platform, or visittakeittotheboardcom for more
ways to connect.
Hi everyone.
I'm attorney DonnaDiMaggio-Berger and this is Take
it to the Board where we speakcondo and HOA.
How many of you know that theacronym CERT stands for a
Community Emergency ResponseTeam?
Even for those of you who knewwhat a CERT is, do you know
exactly what these volunteers do, and have you ever considered
the benefits of implementing aCERT in your community
(00:23):
association?
Have you ever considered thebenefits of implementing a CERT
in your community association?
Today, we're diving into theworld of CERTS with a special
guest who knows what it takes tokeep a community safe in the
face of an emergency.
Joining us is Dr Jesse P Spiro,who is the Emergency Management
Administrator for Miami-DadeCounty and a public safety
professor.
Dr Spiro has worked as asuccessful public safety
practitioner for over 20 years,having worked in the private
(00:46):
sector and at all levels ofgovernment, including federal,
tribal, state, county andmunicipal.
He is the author or co-authorof more than 50 emergency
management plans andpublications, and regularly
presents his findings atnational and international
conferences.
In 2022, dr Spiro was appointedas Assistant Director at
(01:06):
Miami-Dade County Department ofEmergency Management, where he
is responsible for thepreparedness and resiliency
efforts for one of the mostpopulous and vulnerable areas of
the country, that would beMiami-Dade County.
Additionally, dr Spiro is anadjunct professor at several
institutions, including FloridaInternational University and
Georgetown University.
I'm excited to be speaking witha true expert in turning chaos
(01:30):
into calm today, so let's dig in.
Dr Spiro, welcome to Take it tothe Board.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, thank you so much , donna, really looking forward
to today.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
We are too, especially because, as we're
taping this, it is July 19th, sohurricane season in Florida has
already kicked off.
I'm actually taping this inNorth Carolina.
The weather here has beenstrange.
We've seen some erratic weatherpatterns throughout the country
, but I wanted to start out withsome basics.
So what are CERTs and why do weneed them?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So great question.
So, donna, the communityemergency response team is a
concept that's been around formany decades and it's really
designed to empower citizens tobe that basic first responder.
Because we have our lawenforcement, we have our fire
rescue, our public safetyprofessionals that are there.
(02:19):
That's commonly referred to asyour first responders, but the
common person is the initialresponder.
That's there.
They're the people that aregoing to be there to help
somebody that's injured, hurt inan accident, fallen.
There's a disaster, anemergency it could be a fire, a
flood, hurricane, tornado,whatever it is.
That's the first person there.
(02:40):
So the CERT program trainsthese individuals how to respond
and empowers them to takeaction and feel comfortable in
that decision-making process.
And that's really what the CERTprogram is designed to do is
empowerment.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So what kind of emergencies, Dr Spiro, would
CERTs be trained to respond to?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So there's all sorts of things that we train in the
CERT program but basically, onceyou're part of a CERT team and
you're a volunteer with thatprogram, in that given
jurisdiction, you have theopportunity to assist that
jurisdiction with various events.
That might be a community 5K,that might be a sporting event,
(03:20):
that might be a larger incidentlike a festival or something
even larger than that.
They have the ability to assistthe first responders by
providing rehab for theresponders and rehab is usually
food and drink and keeping themcalm and safe during these
activities that they'reperforming long hours on or to
(03:41):
help those that are attendees atthese various events with minor
injuries, such as triage ofwhat that injury is.
At these various events withminor injuries, such as triage
of what that injury is, could behanding out bandages, ice packs
, referring them for additionalservices.
They could hand out water.
They could also support otherentities for that event as well.
Now for the emergency situation.
So let's back this up and saywe have two classifications of
(04:05):
incidents and how we kind ofdirect our resources.
We have blue sky days, which isthose events that we can go and
assist on, and then we have ourgray sky days, which is the
emergencies fires, floods,hurricanes, pandemics, you name
it.
Oh my, there's a lot that's outthere.
So if you're part of anorganized team and program, you
have the ability to be deployedto assist in various emergency
(04:29):
operations that might occur atthe local emergency operations
center, providing EOC supportfor them.
That might be anything frombeing a scribe to assisting in a
phone bank, to helping with thefood unit that feeds all the
responders that are associatedwith that given incident.
You also might be deployed outin the field to assist in that
(04:52):
response.
We would oftentimes, inhurricane situations, implement
what's known as pods or pointsof distribution.
These pods are designed to giveresources to the public after a
large-scale disaster such as ahurricane.
We might hand out kits of food,water and other necessities
(05:14):
like toiletry kits or safetykits or anything else.
In a line they would be theones that are doing that, so
they're really a forcemultiplier.
They could also be doing otherthings, such as damage
assessment.
They could be in the volunteerand resource unit, where
resources come in from communitymembers wanting to volunteer to
(05:35):
assist others that have beendisplaced by the disaster.
They can organize the suppliesthat come in and then they can
help to distribute those kitsout to individuals within those
communities.
Come in and then they can helpto distribute those kits out to
individuals within thosecommunities.
There's really a wide range ofopportunities for CERT programs
and it does vary by jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well, I want to touch on the pods, the point of
distribution.
So I had my partner, joe Adams,on the podcast a couple months
ago talking about his personalexperience in Southwest Florida
during Hurricane Ian.
They were stranded, he was onFort Myers Beach.
I remember him saying that themilitary had come in and they
were handing out water andemergency supplies.
Florida during Hurricane Ian.
They were stranded, he was onFort Myers Beach and I remember
him saying that the military hadcome in and they were handing
out water and emergency supplies.
So do these CERTs coordinatewith the military, with local
(06:14):
government, in terms of whatthey'll be doing versus what
other governmental agencies orthe military might be doing in
the aftermath of a massivecatastrophe?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I did work in SouthwestFlorida for a number of years as
the Emergency ManagementDivision Manager for the city of
Cape Coral and we responded toIan and our CERT team actually
helped and assisted in points ofdistribution, as well as in the
panhandle after HurricaneMichael, in which we did damage
assessment and a lot of othersupport up there.
But the team in SouthwestFlorida for Ian as well for Irma
(06:48):
, they actually assisted thatprocess with the National Guard.
So what happens is those teamsare activated through the
Emergency Operations Center.
Those individuals that are partof that team are given phone
calls, emails or a call tree toreport into the EOC for a given
period of time.
Those that can volunteer thattime and assist are then allowed
(07:10):
to be part of that activationand they're given basically
marching orders.
As to this is what the situationis.
These individuals, thesecommunities need this help or we
need this resource.
Your job during this timeframeis to help do this and then they
would go and help support andhand out that food, the water,
hygiene kits, emergency supplies.
So they're given a veryspecific mission and that also
(07:32):
varies by how those certs areorganized in that individual
jurisdiction.
Some have very large teams thatare countywide, some may be
smaller teams that areassociated with a city and there
may be even more micro teamsthat might be neighborhood-based
and they may be tasked withdoing damage assessment or
wellness checks on the residentson their street or block or
(07:55):
neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
But it sounds like the first responders actually
welcome this kind of assistance,not as if they're saying we've
got it, we're the professionalsyou can stand down.
It sounds like they're actuallywelcoming the assistance that
the certs can provide.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
You're absolutely right.
First responders todayoverwhelmingly, for the most
part, welcome certs to help be aforce multiplier and augment
their response.
You know, volunteers are greatand needed for any incident, any
emergency and disaster, butCERT members are particularly
valued because these lawenforcement professionals, these
(08:30):
fire departments, emergencymanagement departments and most
communities know that theseindividuals have gone through
trainings, they are experiencedin operations of disasters, they
know the process, operations ofdisasters, they know the
process and they have gonethrough.
When it comes to the individualteams for response, they've
gone through background checksas well.
(08:50):
So we know that we are gettinga good force multiplier that's
coming into assisting with thedisaster response operations.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Now I have to tell you one of the things I love
about doing this podcast is theinformation I learn from experts
like you.
You mentioned the blue sky days.
So I had two years ago JaneGilbert, miami Dade's chief heat
officer, on the podcast andtalking about the climbing
temperatures that we're seeingaround the country, and she had
(09:17):
some great advice about what todo and when to know.
You know when to know when youneed to take a break.
Then I also had Dr JasonMansour, who's the chair of
emergency medicine at BrowardHealth.
I am not a CERT member, but themore I hear you talk, this
actually came into play becauseone day my postman and I'm
almost never home, but I washome and he pulls up and I
(09:39):
thought I'll go out.
There was very hot, I'll go outand I'll say hi to Dan.
He literally fell out of thevehicle and he was.
He was having heat stroke orpotential heart attack and I
brought him in and then Iremembered what they had told me
.
You know ice peas under thearms and here in the groin and
get it in, get them in air andget some water going.
You know it's freeing.
So it was amazing to me, Iimagine cause you talked about
(10:02):
the blue sky is that you've gotcerts who are trained now to
treat heat stroke.
Correct, can you tell me whatthe training consists of?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, absolutely so.
It's about a 25 hour course andthis is set up from a FEMA
standard that's been around fora number of years.
So in this class and the classalso varies on how it's offered
and here in Miami-Dade County weoffer several of these classes
throughout the entire fact weactually have more people that
want the training than we havetrainers to actually do the
(10:31):
training, and that just goes toshow that there is a supply and
demand challenge.
That's there, which is good.
We want to see that.
We want to see that people areeager, interested to get
involved in this process andlearn these critical skills.
So it's divided into nine units.
(10:52):
You can do this over the courseof nine weeks.
It can be a three hours a dayon a Wednesday afternoon.
You can actually put it ontotwo weekend classes where you
might have a class on a Friday,saturday, sunday and then
another class on a Friday andSaturday.
You might do a hybrid stylewhere you'd have the first
couple of units would be virtualand you can log in that way and
then do the other half of thecourse in person, more hands-on.
(11:13):
So there's lots ofopportunities to do this, but
the nine classes that make it upis in the first unit we talk
about disaster preparedness.
So this really sets the stagefor the individual to know about
what they can do in disastersituations, the basic
fundamentals of disasters,disaster response, and we really
(11:34):
teach people about the hazardsthat they are going to face in
their individual givencommunities.
So Programs in the West Coast ofthe United States have a
different risk hazard thresholdthan we do in southeast Florida.
They have earthquakes, theyhave wildfires.
We don't really experience thatdown here.
Well, let's hope we don'texperience those down here.
(11:56):
Ok, I'll set that out thereright away.
So they teach, they'll do somefocus modules on those
individual hazards themselves,do some focus modules on those
individual hazards themselves.
Down here we have a particularfocus on flooding.
So we cover all the basics thatare in the fundamental FEMA
program that we have and then weadd some with the flooding
events that we can see, thehurricane situations that occur
(12:17):
and then this increase of theseheat emergencies.
So we train these individualson how to recognize these
threats and hazards.
So that's the first unit.
It's a very great and excitingunit.
Second unit we go into CERTorganizations.
So how are basic CERT programsdesigned, organized, run,
managed in blue skies and, ingray sky situations, disaster
(12:45):
medical operations.
So this is pretty cool becauseyou actually get a first look
into how those EMS personnelEMTs and paramedics and fire
rescue personnel encountervarious emergencies from medical
emergencies, from heart attacks, strokes.
There could be broken bones,lacerations.
So we give you those high leveloverviews of identifying and
(13:06):
recognizing those injuries andwhat you can do to mitigate
exposure to that, provide firstaid and assistance, and how to
recognize what can be done tohelp aid them and then call 911
as well.
We get into disaster psychologyas well when we move on to the
fifth unit.
So in disaster psychology,disasters really change up how
(13:30):
we have our normal daily life.
So it disrupts those routinesand that is a challenge for a
lot of people.
A lot of people are used towaking up in the morning, having
a cup of coffee or goinggetting it at the coffee shop
and they have routines that theyget into and they're
comfortable in that.
But when you disrupt thatthere's a lot of psychological
impact.
So we talk about psychologicalfirst aid, how to recognize the
(13:53):
signs and symptoms of stressthat are related to emergencies
and disasters and what you cando to aid others and also be
mindful of your own personalhealth and wellness.
That's a very important unitnow that we're.
You know we have so many thingsgoing on today in our
individual lives and out therein the community, in the world,
so this is a good way to reallyhelp kind of bring a little bit
(14:15):
of calm to these emergencysituations.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, and I wanted to ask you, before you move on to
the next units, what about thepsychological impact on the CERT
volunteers themselves?
Because there have to be anumber of judgment calls these
people need to make when they'retriaging, when they're deciding
.
You know when to call 911, whatto do until the first
responders can show up.
You know how do you deal withthe different judgment calls
(14:38):
that volunteers may make, and Iwould imagine some get it very
right, but some maybe don't.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, this is where it comes down to each
individual's comfort level aswell.
So everybody is covered by theGood Samaritan Act.
So the Good Samaritan Actallows you to provide assistance
.
Render that aid to what yourlevel of training and comfort is
.
So there are people we have88-year-old grandmothers that
(15:04):
take this class and program andabsolutely love it and they can
provide assistance to whatevertheir physical and mental
capacity is to do.
So Then we also train them Like, if you're not able to pick
someone up or crib an injurywith the proper material that
you have around you, we givethem those skills and those
(15:26):
points as to what they can doCall for support, call 911,
document the situation, getassistance etc.
So there's, you know, a persondoesn't have to automatically
assume that I'm cert trained soI should go out there and be
this initial first responder outthere.
That's really not the intent.
The intent is to kind of buildthat foundation of knowledge and
(15:48):
that comfort level with atleast responding in the initial
phase to help support somebody.
So I'll give an example here.
So I had a CERT member in aprogram that I oversaw, that
recently had taken the class andhe was a former law enforcement
officer of 25 years.
He had retired, he hadn't workedfor nearly 10 years but he was
(16:09):
still active in the communityand wanted to volunteer.
So he took the CERT program asan opportunity to re-engage with
the public and brush off hisskills.
It wasn't more than a weekafter they had graduated the
program that they were down at anice restaurant on the beach on
a Sunday morning enjoying thebeautiful view when somebody had
had a heart attack right infront of them.
(16:30):
He had recently gone throughthe program and he took part of
the optional course, which isthe CPR course, the AED training
, and he knew automatically whatto do based off of that recent
training he had.
First thing he did was point tosomeone, say call 911.
You document what I'm doing,sir, are you OK?
(16:51):
You know, go through thatprocess of asking if that person
needs assistance and thenperforming first aid and CPR on
that individual, and then thatindividual ended up having first
responders come and take themto the hospital and they end up
surviving that incident.
So that individual responded inthe capacity that they were
trained in and were comfortableable to perform.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And had a comfort level with it.
But if I'm hearing you, itsounds like you know a wide
range of people could beeligible to serve on certs.
I imagine you don't takechildren, so 18 or older is one
threshold.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
No, absolutely not.
There are successful teen certprograms across the country and
if I could wave my wand and makethis a requirement in schools
today, I would have teen certprogram be an elective in high
schools because students canreally learn these lifelong
(17:43):
skills to help them to helpthemselves, their neighbors,
their families and theircommunities in the future.
We recently partnered withMiami-Dade Fire Rescue on their
junior lifeguard program.
It's a lifeguard program, it'slike a summer camp program where
they take students of teenageyears so between the ages of 12
and 18, and they put themthrough a junior lifeguard
(18:05):
training for a summer and theyget lifeguard training and they
get, you know, they talk aboutrip currents and it's a, I think
, a three or four week activityto go through.
We recently added the teen CERTprogram to that, so that's what
they did in the afternoon.
So we just had a group of theseyoung men and women graduate
from their first teen CERTprogram through the Junior
(18:25):
Lifeguard program.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Oh, that's fantastic.
Do you find a lot of enthusiasm, dr Spiro, from teens, from
young people, to get engaged?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
We do, they're actually more receptive than
some of the adults are.
So I'll put it this way I'vebeen an emergency manager for
over 20 years and I find thatthe most engaged population I
meet with are students and thosethat are younger, Because for
us to really as emergencymanagers, for us to get the
message out about preparednessand community safety I can talk
(18:56):
all day long to everybody in thestreet, but they got a lot
going on in their lives.
When it comes to even ourelementary, middle school and
high school students, they'remore receptive to that
information when they hear itfrom a trusted expert.
They bring that informationhome to their family and they
talk about that.
They share that information.
Then the parents and the auntsand uncles and grandparents get
(19:18):
interested in as well, andthat's how we turn a new
generation on to preparednessand community resilience.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I hope whoever needs to hear your message about
adding that to the schoolcurriculum hears it and maybe
acts on it.
So we left off withpsychological unit.
What comes after that?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
After that is fire safety and utility controls.
So this is where you get tolearn how to properly use a fire
extinguisher.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So I need that training.
I'm going to say I need thattraining.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Is it because of your cooking in the kitchen on
Friday nights?
Is that why, Donna?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I cook.
I'm Italian, so I'm cooking allthe time, and I really should
know this.
Ok, I'm listening.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
So we so not a lot of people have pulled the pin on a
fire extinguisher and know howto properly use it.
So we teach you those skills.
We also teach you a little bitabout fire science knowing and
understanding how fires work andhow they expand and how they
contract and the different typesof building material and how
the fuels go into fires and howthey expand.
So that's like a little bit ofa science class.
(20:16):
So this is where you know BillNye, the science guy, would come
in and talk about this, and sothis is a kind of a cool little
aspect and we typically have alot of our fire rescue
department personnel teach thisbecause they're the ones that
live and breathe this every day.
But that's the module we getinto and it's pretty exciting.
A lot of programs gets to uselive fire.
So there is like a fire pan.
(20:36):
It's a controlled fire module,a simulator that they can
actually put out a fire, put outa fire.
There's more virtual ones wherewe have electronic versions and
then there's basic ones inwhich we basically will just
walk them through the wholemuscle memory of using a fire
extinguisher.
But the basic building skillsof fires is a big part.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So important, so important.
I don't want to embarrassmyself, but I have an electric
grill just for this reason.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That's all right.
That's all right.
It could be worse.
It could be worse, donna, don'tworry about it.
After that we just got a couplemore units left and we do light
search and rescue operations.
So we teach people about somelight search and rescue that
they can perform at their homein their community if something
happens.
So if you've been theunfortunate survivor of a
(21:23):
disaster like a hurricane or atornado or a severe weather
event and your roof gets blownoff, your neighbor's house is
damaged due to flying tree ordebris, this is an opportunity
for you to safely go in andassess tools and lifters and do
(21:44):
all this stuff.
But we're teaching about thefundamentals of how to properly
leverage and move various itemsto navigate for life safety
purposes.
So that's a very importantmodule that we do.
And then our last things that wedo is we kind of wrap the
course up with our terrorismmodule.
(22:04):
So we look at the impacts ofweapons of mass destruction
module.
So we look at the impacts ofweapons of mass destruction, we
look at signs of recognizingpossible nefarious actors and
terrorism.
So this builds that capacityfor individuals to recognize
suspicious behavior that couldoccur in their communities and
then what to do in thoseemergency situations.
Say, if there's an activeshooter, there's a hazardous
material incident, there'ssomething that goes on and they
(22:26):
have to take action.
So, once again, if you caninform people, teach them about
these concepts and the optionsand opportunities they have to
keep themselves and others safe,they're going to be able to the
mass shootings, because we'veactually taught classes to
community associations on activeshooters, Because that hasn't
(22:50):
happened in a condo or an HOAyet.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
But you never know and there are certain principles
I understand that if you followyou know, you increase people's
chances of success.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
So absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
This sounds very comprehensive.
Nine units, is that oversequential?
Sequentially nine weeks.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Dr Sphera.
So you can do it over nineweeks.
So I've been part of programsin which we've done it over nine
week periods.
I've been part of programs inwhich we do it over the course
of two weekends.
I've done it where we've brokenit up into three weekends.
It's all.
It all depends on thejurisdiction and the interests
associated with it.
But after you're done with thosefundamental modules, we do a
(23:30):
course review.
There's a final exam.
Don't worry, there's no bluedots that you have to put
through a Scantron and you haveto pass fail.
There's a good opportunity foryou just to know what your level
of your skills are at thatpoint and then at the end of
that level of your skills are atthat point.
And then at the end of thatthere's a disaster simulation in
which you actually get to applythese concepts that you've
learned over the course of theweeks of the program.
So you do some cert formation,building your team and some
(23:52):
leadership within a cohesiveunit in a neighborhood.
You do some light medicaltriage.
You do a little bit about firesafety operations and light
search and rescue.
So you have a chance toactually apply those skills.
So this is where you get to seeit, you get to read it and then
you get to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You've got me sold.
I'm serious, I want to takethis training.
Is there a cost associated withthe training?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Absolutely not.
It is all free.
It is all part of your abilityas a community member to go and
take part of these programs.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Amazing, and is any part of it online or is it all
in person?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Dr Spiro.
So FEMA recently launched a newonline version of this in which
you can take a couple hourclass.
It's a CERT fundamental class,so that is not a substitute for
the actual nine week or the ninemodule in-person class, but
this is kind of like more of theintroduction to that program.
It's available free onlinethrough the FEMA Emergency
Management Institute, or FEMAEMI as we call it, and it has a
course number associated with it.
(24:54):
It's got materials and linksassociated with it.
So that's just one of theopportunities.
So if you're not able to go inperson at your local
jurisdiction to take part ofthis, at least you can take the
online class to have a littlebit of a background on these
concepts with CERT.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Just a little dipping of the toes into the CERT pool.
So the T in the acronym CERTstands for team.
So let's say I have ahomeowner's association and they
say this sounds great.
Is there a minimum number ofpeople they need to create a
CERT?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
So that's another good question because it's
different for everybody.
But this is what we say is wedon't need for you to be part of
the CERT team to be a member.
Getting the CERT training itselfis the benefit that keeps on
giving.
When we have the CERT teamcomponent, which is organized,
(25:44):
you can have a formallyorganized program like we do in
Miami-Dade County or the city ofMiami or Miami Beach.
They have very well organizedand run organizations but you
can actually be CERT trained inyour area and bring your friends
, neighbors with you to takethat training as well, and then
you can have your ownneighborhood CERT and you can do
these own activities well, andthen you can have your own
(26:05):
neighborhood cert and you can dothese own activities yourself.
You can host regular, you knowcoffee shop meetings with your
cert members that have graduatedand gone through the skills.
You can share disaster relatedinformation with one another.
So you don't have to be part of, like the formal process or
that formal team with thatcounty or that city entity.
You can have your own littleneighborhood association in
(26:28):
which you meet up on a basisthat you determine and you
collaborate on these safety andresiliency concepts.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Assuming you're part of a larger CERT team, though,
is there a hierarchy, dr Spiro?
Are there different key rolesamong the team members?
Speaker 2 (26:43):
There are.
So we apply what's known as theICS concept.
So that is the incident commandsystem.
So this is the FEMA standardthat we utilize for all of our
first responders, all levels ofgovernment, in the private
sector.
So you have your what's knownas command.
Those are those individualsthat are responsible for setting
the priorities and objectivesfor the organization, and then
(27:04):
you have your general staff.
So general staff would be likea planning section chief, an
operations section chief,logistics, admin, finance, and
then there's what's known asvarious branches and directors.
But I can get into ICS, fematalk and people might I might be
losing people at that point.
It's simpler for us and itdepends by jurisdiction, but for
us we've actually gone throughthe process of revamping our
(27:25):
CERT program, but we would haveCERT leaders that would be
organized into these CERT teamsand then they would also have
various individuals withassigned roles that they might
be a pod unit leader, they mightbe a food unit leader, they
might be a logistics unit leader.
A part of that team there maybe individuals that do damage
(27:46):
assessment operations oradministration or scribing, and
there's typically a couple oflayers to that hierarchy.
You find that those that havemore background or experience or
more interest might be in moreof the leadership roles, and
those leadership roles do changeto typically rotate by people
getting that experience in them.
Leadership roles do change totypically rotate by people
(28:07):
getting that experience in them.
They may be those that are theleaders within those individual
neighborhoods or thoseassociations or in that county
or city organization and theymay have members that are just
there to be part of it and aidwhere they're asked to go.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
After the initial training, is there ongoing
training that needs to berenewed?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
It doesn't need to be renewed.
But what we say is we encourageour CERT members to get
involved in advanced andrefresher training.
So what does that mean?
So we offer a number ofadvanced and refresher trainings
here in Miami-Dade County.
It's everything from carbonmonoxide awareness we recently
launched a severe weatherawareness campaign that we've
(28:46):
been doing.
We've been giving communitypresentations about the three
big threats that we see here inSoutheast Florida and we call it
our trifecta of hazards.
It is flooding, heat andhurricanes.
So we go out as emergencymanagers and teach the community
members about these.
But we also have CERT membersthat come and sit in on these
(29:08):
trainings, as well as certainmembers themselves delivering
these trainings.
Some other advanced andrefresher trainings that we give
is recognizing stroke, stop thebleed campaign, cpr, aed,
special needs awareness, masscare and points of distribution.
So those are just some of thoseopportunities that individuals
(29:28):
can take part of.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
So how does the CERT team get?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
deployed.
So how we do it in Miami-DadeCounty is this last year, with
Hurricane Adalia, the FloridaDivision of Emergency Management
gave our program a call.
They called me up and said hey,jesse, we're looking for a good
CERT team to go and be deployedup to the Western part of
Florida that's been impacted.
(29:51):
Are you able to muster up Xnumber of volunteers for X
period of time?
I said let me give you a call.
So I rounded up the variousmembers that we have that had
interest and availability andthen what happened is they were
given a mission number, which isbasically marching orders from
the state to deploy, with ourDepartment of Emergency
(30:14):
Management personnel to an areato provide assistance.
So we deployed I believe sevenmembers of our CERT program
along with got flooded, help,tarp roofs, deliver food and
water supplies to thecommunities, and they had some
(30:43):
specific marching orders thatwere necessary.
But it was all very organizedand we had a team leader, a
member of our staff.
We have a great CERT managerfor our program, jessica
Sandoval, that's been doing thisfor a number of years.
That led that effort out there.
So they had a marching orders.
I believe they're out there forabout 10 days.
Their efforts were recognizedhigh and wide, not only by Dixie
(31:05):
County the neighborhoods thatthey served, but also Florida
Division of Emergency Management, volunteer Florida, as well as
our county mayor and countycommission for their efforts.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Oh, that's amazing.
I'm going to drill down, though.
Did you tell these folks here'swhere you need to be and they
transport themselves, or werethey transported there?
Speaker 2 (31:25):
We transported them there, so we gave them a time in
which we would need them toreport to our emergency
operations center.
They showed up with theirsupplies, so they had CERT
backpacks and supplies necessaryfor a period of about two weeks
in order to respond out there.
We provided them extraresources and aids, such as some
food, some water, some extrabatteries, radios, any other
(31:49):
equipment that we thought thatthey might need, and then we
transported them out there aspart of the Miami-Dade County
deployment out to Dixie County.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
You mentioned the Good Samaritan Law a little
while ago.
You know, in terms ofprotecting these volunteers if
they're assisting and thensomething goes wrong or they're
not able to help somebody.
What about if the volunteers,if the CERT members, are injured
or harmed in some way?
Are they entitled to workers'compensation or anything else in
(32:22):
terms of resources from localgovernment if that happens?
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
If you are part of amission-deployed asset, so
you've been tasked by theFlorida Division of Emergency
Management, through the localjurisdiction, to respond with
that CERT team, you would getdeployed and you would be
covered under that state mission.
So you'd be covered medicallyif something does happen with
you.
And there has been incidents inwhich some volunteers have been
injured.
So I was part of anotherprogram before in which one of
(32:47):
our CERT members, on one of thefirst days running shelter
operations up in the panhandleafter Hurricane Matthew, was
injured and he got first aidthere at the scene.
After a few days he came backto the jurisdiction and he was a
vet that wanted to actually usethe VA instead of using that
jurisdiction's insurance andgoing through that process.
(33:08):
But if he didn't have the VAthen he would have been covered
underneath that jurisdiction.
Now it does vary byjurisdiction as well, so but if
you are part of a deployedresource mission from the state
to the local jurisdiction andyou're part of that team, you're
covered.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
You know you mentioned in Miami-Dade
specifically flooding, heat andhurricanes, but there was no way
to prepare for Champlain TowersSouth and the collapse and
we've talked about that a lot onthe podcast, because this is,
take it to the Board.
We're talking about communityassociations.
We've talked about how the lawshave changed to require older
buildings to be inspected morefrequently to make sure these
(33:46):
communities are reserving funds.
Were any of your CERT teamsdeployed to Champlain Towers
after the collapse?
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, during that time we utilized some of our
CERT members to provide rehab tothe responders as well as to
the community members as well.
So those that were displaced,those that are working there at
the scene, so they provided thatassistance to them.
So this is an opportunity forindividuals that want to
volunteer and assist but theydon't know how.
When you're part of a CERT teamand a CERT program, you really
have that direct link to givingthat very specific, direct
(34:19):
assistance when needed and whennecessary, and there's never
enough volunteers that are outthere to assist.
So we're always welcoming newmembers to take part of this
program, because we don't knowwhen the next disaster is going
to come or how big it's going tobe, and the assistance that the
individual can provide on anyof these from a building
collapse to a hurricane isreally really well appreciated
(34:43):
and supported by individuals incommunities.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Do CERT members get a kit?
Do they get the bleedingcontrol kit?
Are there certain resourcesthat you say here you go, take
this home with you, and when wedeploy you bring it with?
Or I'm just wondering you knowwhat kind of resources are given
to these certs?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, a lot of times jurisdictions once members
graduate and they're part of theteam and they're members of
that team and that also variesby that jurisdiction as well,
like what constitutes a memberon that team.
Typically there might be acouple of refresher trainings
throughout the year or a coupleof meetings to attend.
That keeps them like an activemember, and then what happens is
(35:22):
that's how they get access to,like these feet, these cert kits
, which are backpacks, which hashard helmets in it, gloves,
bandages, it has a pry bar,flashlight, battery.
It's basically your basicrescue kit.
Is right there.
Those are typically distributedand that varies by jurisdiction
.
But also the more somebody isinvolved in the program, the
(35:45):
more access they get to thesetools to help them if they were
going to be deployed to anincident or they were impacted
by an incident as well.
So the opportunity is there toget these resources to help
support them.
But also we help to teachindividuals how to get those
resources, source those locally,from a home.
A lot of people have a lot ofthose supplies sitting around
(36:08):
their house that they didn'tknow can be used for an
emergency situation.
So it's what we call the go kit.
You can walk around and find thedrunk drawer that's got extra
batteries in the extraflashlight.
Here's some bandages, some tape, some ice packs, here's some
canned goods, here's some waterbottles.
You put that into a box.
That's your kit, right there,that's your go kit if something
happens.
And then what happens is themore involved you are in the
(36:31):
program or the more you want tobe prepared.
There's things that you can goout and source yourself to build
up that kit further, and weactually help, give you tips and
tricks on how to pull thattogether.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I have a law partner who's a very dear friend of mine
and he's always talking abouthaving a go kit.
He's like Donna, do you have ago kit yet?
So now that I've heard it twice, I think I better look into it.
It's time.
This is probably time.
Can anybody get kicked out of acert?
Like what if you got deployedand you said I'm not going?
Is there any way that a certever gets loses their
(37:02):
credentials?
Or a particular cert member maybe told you know what no more,
you're not a good fit for theteam.
Does anybody ever get kickedout?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
No, because it's a volunteer program.
So it's your volunteer and yourtime and I don't have the most
recent number associated with avolunteer hour, but I think that
the value of a volunteer houris approximately $28 an hour.
So if we get a team of 10people volunteering five hours a
day, 10 days a week, 10 days aweek, well, that's a long week,
(37:33):
seven days a week for a disaster.
You know what we can actuallydo.
We can take that volunteer time, we can calculate the dollar
value associated with it andthen that goes to the match that
would be required for us for afederal disaster declaration.
That's a whole nother story,but they can actually help save
these.
These volunteer hours can helpsave that local community money
(37:56):
in the recovery process as well.
But it's all voluntary.
We're not gonna kick you outNow.
There may be times in which wehave volunteers that might not
be the best in some emergencysituations and we have leaders
that are part of these teamsthat can recognize that hey,
maybe this disaster might not beright for this person or this
emergency or this situation.
You know there might be aconflict that comes up, there
(38:18):
might be a stressful situation,a psychological stressor that
emerges in them.
You know we are trained asemergency managers to recognize
that, help diffuse that andprovide other avenues and
opportunities for them to be inwhich is a little bit more safe
and controlled, in which theycan still provide that support
and volunteer.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
So, dr Spiro, can you tell us a little bit about your
background and how you gotinvolved with emergency
management?
First of all, were you a BoyScout?
I was, I knew it.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And my mom was a troop leader too.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Okay, does not surprise me, so tell me like
were you a serious kid oh no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
My teachers would say no, and my catechism teachers,
the nuns.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
They would say they tried to kick me out okay,
actually that's a wholedifferent podcast, because I
went to catholic school too and,uh, not for not for very long.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
So I'll tell you about my background.
So I'm from Northeast Wisconsinand both my grandparents, my
father's grandfathers they wereboth veterans.
One was from World War II, hewas part of the Army Air Corps,
which was a forerunner totoday's Air Force.
And my other grandfather, mymaternal grandfather, was in
Vietnam and he was in the MarineCorps.
So we already had a sense ofpatriotism and community safety
(39:35):
and resilience.
So that was already baked in.
My mom worked for the sheriff'soffice for 15 years as well.
Community service andengagement was just always in my
blood.
I went to college for criminaljustice and political science
and I was fortunate enough toget an internship with the
United States Marshal Serviceand I was all excited to be
(39:57):
Tommy Lee Jones from the USMarshals and the Fugitives.
So if you're old enough to knowthose movies, that's who I
wanted to be During that time.
That was right around and rightafter 9-11.
Well, in federal lawenforcement they were doing a
lot of this emergency managementstuff and the chief marshal at
(40:18):
the time in a meeting said to meJesse, if anybody can figure
this emergency management stuffout, they're going to do really
good in the marshals.
And that was a light bulb thatcame on for me.
So what I did is I exploredwhere can I go to get a master's
in emergency management tobuild my capacity and skills.
At that time, over 20 years ago,I was only able to find three
programs in the country.
There was a University of NorthTexas, there was North Dakota
(40:39):
State University or there wasLynn University in Boca Raton,
florida.
I chose Boca Raton it wasn'tbecause of the beaches, that was
just I was going to say is itthe weather?
No, it was a positive attributeto that, but what it really was
is the diversity that exists andthe hazards that southeast
Florida and Florida is exposedto.
I figured, if I wanted to bethe best public safety
(41:00):
practitioner I could be, I needto be with diverse populations
in diverse hazard situations sothat I can serve those
populations better.
And then what ended uphappening is the 04-05 hurricane
season came along.
And then what ended uphappening is the 04-05 hurricane
season came along.
So those that rememberHurricane Charlie, Jean Francis,
Wilma, all of those I just cutmy teeth in it and just ended up
staying in emergency managementever since.
(41:21):
And then I've been able tonavigate various organizations
and elevate myself to aleadership position in one of
the largest emergency managementdepartments in the entire
country.
But also along that way I saidyou know, I'm getting this great
experience.
I'm helping the community,there's still more that I can
learn and there's still morethat I can do.
So then I went on and got a PhDin emergency management.
(41:43):
Very few programs are availableas a doctoral program in
emergency management and I'm oneof that few individuals in that
first phase that came into thisprofession that not only has
this experience in it, but alsohas the degree of emergency
management, professional anddoctorate.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I'm sure you've seen the industry, the emergency
management industry evolve overthe time you've been involved in
it.
Where do you see it heading inthe next couple of years?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
So I'm part of a great organization.
This organization here inMiami-Dade County recently
became its own department.
We used to be a division of thefire department for over 20
years.
Our mayor, mayor Daniela LevineCava, elevated emergency
management from a division to adepartment, a standalone
department.
She gave us a larger budget,she gave us 19 new positions,
(42:37):
because she knew that there areemerging threats and trends that
are impacting our community inSoutheast Florida and that
emergency management needed astronger platform to address
those.
So emergency management haschanged quite a bit in the 20
years that I've been part of itand it's changing a lot more.
So as a new profession, it wastypically occupied by retired
(42:59):
firefighters, police officersand military people.
Today it is a very diverse,multidisciplined profession with
people with backgrounds inArcGIS, education, marketing,
chemistry, you name it.
They are all part of this andthey bring a lot of skills.
So where I see emergencymanagement going in the future
(43:21):
is emergency management, andthis is our mission in
Miami-Dade County is we arethere for all your hazards and
emergencies.
We are there for the floodingevents, the hurricanes, the
fires, the floods, the cyberincidents which we had today as
well a global cyber incident.
We are part of that tip of thespear that is there to help plan
for, respond, to recover,mitigate and become more
(43:43):
resilient for these hazards inthe future to your mayor, levine
Cava.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
she seems to be a real visionary.
By the way, I don't live inMiami-Dade, I live in Broward,
but I will tell you, betweenwhat she's done with the chief
heat officer's role and what youjust explained, she's done in
terms of making emergencymanagement a standalone
department.
I think it's an example of howvisionary she and her
administration has been.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Absolutely.
She is very forward-leaning onthis and this is what is very
important and critical is youhave to be forward leaning,
knowing about these hazards anddisasters, and she recognized
that.
That's why she has a chief heatofficer the world's first.
She has a chief bay officerworking on water quality issues
with Biscayne Bay.
She has a chief resiliencyofficer and a standalone
department of emergencymanagement.
(44:29):
So this is what I tell mystudents when I teach them
Emergency management is a lotlike an insurance policy you
don't want it until you need it,and if you don't have it, it's
too late.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
So for those of us who are not members of a CERT
and we don't think we're goingto become members of a CERT, how
can we still?
Speaker 2 (44:48):
support emergency management.
So this is critical thateverybody have a plan, have a
kit, be prepared, be informedand be involved.
So those are five little stepsthat you can take along the way.
So part of that process ishaving a plan, having that kit,
knowing what to put in that kitIf you're going to evacuate
where are you going to evacuate?
To Knowing the threats andhazards that exist.
(45:10):
We have three.
We actually have three hazardseasons right now that are all
overlapping one another.
It starts off with our floodingseason and our heat season and
then rolls right into thehurricane season, all within
about a six week period.
So community members just needto be aware of the hazards that
they're more likely to facegiven that period of time, given
(45:33):
where you are.
So if you are up in theCarolinas, you have different
hazards than we do down here inSoutheast Florida, just like in
the Midwest, just like out Westas well.
So just know those tools, thosetips, those hazards that you
face.
That helps to get you moreprepared for what can
potentially happen.
So if you know that you are ina wildfire risk area or you're
(45:53):
in a area prone to riverineflooding or in the evacuation
zone due to hurricanes.
Have a plan on what you'regoing to do if that does happen.
Most of the time when thesedisasters occur, a behavioral
analysis study is done and themajority of people say that I
didn't think it was going tohappen to me, I didn't think it
(46:13):
was going to be this bad, Ididn't think about what I should
have done.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
That's great advice.
Listen, you're talking tosomebody who, when I get on an
airplane, I count the number ofrows to get out makes my kids
crazy.
So even after this episode, Ican see I'm going to be sharing
it with them and they're goingto be like mom, please enough,
but I'm the one who's countingto say you know, we need to know
how to get out of here.
(46:37):
We need to know, you know.
So you're preaching to thechoir a little bit with me.
Do you have any particularlymemorable success stories that
you could share with ourlisteners in terms of certs?
Speaker 2 (46:44):
I do, and it's a recent example from Miami-Dade
County here.
So our team was asked by thestate to deploy to Dixie County
and we deployed up there and weprovided assistance to residents
that were really in need of it.
They had lost their roofs, theyhave lost their homes.
In some circumstances they losttheir belongings.
(47:16):
Across an individual that herhusband had recently passed and
he was a veteran, and she hadlost a lot of the contents in
her house due to, you know, theroof being damaged and the
windows being blown out, a lotof water intrusion, so a lot of
her personal belongings had beendamaged.
That didn't bother her as much,as the flag that was in the
front of the house that wasflying was blown away and found
yards away all tattered up.
So our team took it uponthemselves to go down to a store
(47:38):
that was open somewhere acrosscounty to buy a new American
flag, to put the flagpole backup, and then they did a flag
raising ceremony for thatdisaster survivor.
She was so eternally thankfulfor that just kind gesture that
we went out of our way with tohelp her with, and that is a
(47:59):
memory that she will keep withher forever because one we
didn't need to do that.
Secondly, there was otherthings that were probably more
pressing than that in her life,but she was really wrapped
around that thing and our teamrecognized that and we I really
want to throw my hat off to youknow, jessica, and the rest of
the Miami-Dade County volunteersthat went and assisted in
(48:20):
particular with that individualcircumstance- Well, what you
just described is a level ofempathy that made a real impact
on that person.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
I do want to thank you and your department and your
staff for what you do.
I think it's amazing.
I hope people listening willwant to, you know, think about
either joining a local CERT orcreating one in their community
Towards that end.
Where can our listeners, drSpiro, find out more information
about CERTs?
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Absolutely.
So individually within yourgiven jurisdiction, it's going
to be different everywhere.
So, individually within yourgiven jurisdiction, it's going
to be different everywhere.
So, but for us in Miami-DadeCounty, you can get information
about CERT by going tomiamidadegov, slash orgorg,
slash DEM, or you can email usat CERT C-E-R-T at miamidadegov,
(49:06):
or you can search onlinethrough your given search engine
tool CERT, fema.
So that is for CommunityEmergency Response Team and FEMA
, and that opens you up to anetwork of a lot of great
resources that are across theentire country and you get to
learn more about those valuableprograms and those flagship
programs that exist.
And just to let you know, donna, there are over 2,800 local
(49:28):
CERT programs across the country.
If you don't have a CERTprogram in your community and
you want one, call up your localemergency management department
, call up your local firedepartment and say, hey, I want
to get involved, I want to giveback.
Can we get this program?
In fact, that has recentlyhappened in my hometown of
(49:50):
Gibraltar, wisconsin.
They had a severe weatherincident occurred in which there
was power loss for several days.
People were snowed in.
Now they've decided to createand fund a CERT program for Door
County, wisconsin, based off ofthat incident so they learned
from it.
There was cries out there forpeople that they wanted to have
that program and now it's goingto get implemented up there in
Northeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (50:11):
Well, dr Spiro, you've inspired me.
I'm going to take the training.
I'm going to do it probably inBroward, though Probably not
going to drive to Miami We'llsee but I'm going to take this
training, so maybe you'll comeback on after I take the
training?
Speaker 2 (50:24):
Absolutely, and I'll even come on up there and say hi
to you as well.
Thank you so much for your time.
It's been my pleasure.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Thank you for joining us today.
Don't forget to follow and rateus on your favorite podcast
platform, or visittakeittotheboardcom for more
ways to connect.
Popular Podcasts
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!