March a quiet month for CERT
March was again a quiet month for your Pine Island Community Emergency Response Team. That’s always good news. Your CERT teams – there are three – consist of civilian unpaid volunteers that are trained and dispatched under the supervision of the Pine Island fire chief. We have about 40 volunteers. When called upon by the fire chief, we will assist safety forces in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. That could be anything from a hurricane, plane crash, tornado, fire, traffic accident and so on. We are trained in first aid, traffic control and search and rescue, but all our efforts will be in assisting our safety forces.
If we are called out, you will recognize us by our green shirts and hats that are emblazoned with yellow letters stating CERT. We are unarmed and have no arrest powers. Our only duty is to respond when called and help where we can.
March training sessions covered detecting life signs, such as breathing and pulse. Have you ever heard of “Capillary refill?” You can try this on yourself. If your blood pressure is good, the color in your fingernails will be a pinkish. Push down on the fingernail and the color changes to whitish because the pressure on the nail will prevent the normal flow of blood. When the pressure on the fingernail is removed the color should return to pinkish again within three seconds. If it doesn’t, there is a blood pressure or circulation problem. It’s something everyone should be aware of.