MSU-Meridian faculty and staff get disaster response training

MSU-Meridian is one of two C-CERT (Campus-Community Emergency Response) teams being trained as part of funding received from the MS Office of Homeland Security. Training has been going on at the campus for the past two days and will finish up Wednesday, November 30.

The CERT Program will educate a select group of MSU-Meridian employees about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and will train them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.

In the event that Meridian and MSU-Meridian were to experience what Tuscaloosa and/or Smithville did this past April, we would now have a team of engaged faculty/staff on our campus that would be trained in essential functions to assist in response and recovery efforts.

Picture: John McAlister, Chief of Campus Police and Dr. Steven Brown, Dean and Associate Vice President at MSU-Meridian team up to put out a fire in the training trailer while Dave Nichols, CERT trainer looks on.  McAlister and Brown are part of 20 faculty and staff from MSU-Meridian who took part in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, provided by funding from the MS Office of Homeland Security. The CERT program trained the employees in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.

WTOK-TV posted their story on November 30, 2011 to their website:

http://www.wtok.com/home/headlines/MSU_Meridian_Staff_Gets_Disaster_Response_Training_134776098.html