APRIL MEETING
CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS
GUEST SPEAKER - JIM STEVENS
Jim Stevens has his B.A. and M.A. degrees in education and school administration. He is a retired school administrator and teacher. He was a licensed paramedic in the State of Michigan for several years and retains his EMT (emergency medical technician) basic and his IC (instructor-coordinator) license. Jim is an adjunct faculty with Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, where he teaches medical continuing education with area fire departments. Jim also serves as a consultant to the Calhoun County Intermediate School District
Jim received his initial ICISF training from Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell in 1992. He is a member of the Michigan Crisis Response Association Board of Directors and has served on the planning committee for the Annual MCRA Training Conference for several years. At the MCRA Annual Conference, he has taught courses on Basic CISM for EMS, Level II CISM for EMS and Community Responders, and Difficult Debriefings. In addition, Jim has taught the Advanced CISM course with Dennis Potter and an Advanced Skill Building course with Paul LaBerteaux.
Jim is the founding president of the Calhoun County CISM team and a coordinator for the Barry, Branch, and Calhoun County CISM team.
Jim presented at the last two International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) World Congress with Dennis and Paul.
Jim is a co-author of the book, Practical Concepts and Training Exercises for Crisis Intervention Teams.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30TH.
CISD BUILDING FROM 7:00 pm UNTIL 9:00 pm
MARCH TRAINING
MARCH TRAINING
We had a great time this month during our training. Paul Makoski gave a presentation on forms and ideas that can be used for a disaster drill and in the event of an actual emergency/disaster.
We practiced a few exercises. One was looking at pictures of disaster footage and documenting pertinent information about the photo. The other exercise was a scenario where we utilized team building skills and practiced incident command.
I want to thank everyone who came to the meeting and I especially want to thank Paul for his effort in setting up this class.
MOCK DISASTER
MOCK DISASTER
SPRING 2008
The Mock Disaster was a great success due to all of the hard work from our Team members and the numerous volunteers. Everyone battled the bitter cold and snow (luckily not too much snow) and demonstrated their committment and dedication to the continuing success of this program.
Everyone had to manage some last minute challenges with this drill and our whole team was able to improvise, adapt, and overcome these difficulties. Each and every member and volunteer should be proud of their part in this disaster drill.
We had the pleasure of having Durk Dunham, Director of Emergency Management and Sheriff Al Byam in attendance. They were able to witness the hard work of our team members and the capabilities of our team.
Thank you to everyone who attended.
Monthly training
Training Update
After speaking with the instructors, team leaders, and several members of the team, we have decided to have monthly training sessions instead of quarterly training. This will be very beneficial to all members.
It is not mandatory (even for tier 3 members) to attend each training, however, you are still responsible for meeting the requirements for each tier.
Each training will have team updates, informational sessions, and a practical session. We will be learning a variety of things along with refreshing our training on items such as first aid, triage, search and rescue, etc. We will be starting CPR classes during the spring time. Everyone is welcome to attend the trainings.
Also, if you have anyone who is interested in seeing what the CERT team is about, they are welcome to attend the training sessions as a visitor. They will need to bring a picture ID with them.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lori Phillips at 269-275-4432 or email her at lphillipscert@tds.net.