By Elizabeth Lowe
Flint Journal (Michigan)
Copyright 2007 Flint Journal
All Rights Reserved
BURTON, Mich. — Firefighters aren’t watering down the emergency skills being taught to teens in the city’s classes that began this month.
Six Faith High School students are the first in Genesee County to begin training in the School Emergency Response Team, or SERT, program, said Grace Ranger, county emergency management director.
SERT is an offshoot of the Homeland Security Department’s federally-funded Community Emergency Response Team, a program in which citizens are trained to be first responders in emergencies.
It’s not kid stuff.
“You’ll be learning things that might upset you, so please let us know,” said Burton Firefighter James Mather, one of three instructors from Station No. 2 who prepared for the course at Eastern Michigan University last month.
In the first class, students were tested on what they already knew about prioritizing and responding to emergencies, suppressing fire, purifying water, positioning patients, decontamination and being debriefed to help them handle what they’ve experienced.
“I like this kind of stuff,” said Nick Breckenridge, 17, the only junior in the class, who already knows cardiopulmonary resuscitation through other emergency care classes he’s taken at school and church. “I’m good under pressure.”
“I’ve done this before,” remarked senior Meaghan Kitchenhoff, 17, inviting two others in the group to follow her lead as she rolled paper into cylinders for stacking.
“You’ll be identified as a leader in the school if there’s an emergency like a tornado drill, fire drill, someone choking, an allergic reaction,” said Mather.
Responding to school situations is the primary mission for SERT students after completing the program. But they’ll also be trained to start an emergency response at any scene they happen upon.
The written curriculum, provided by EMU, contains information on every disaster imaginable, from earthquakes and volcanoes to tsunamis. Burton firefighters, however, will tailor instruction to Michigan-type emergencies, such as tornadoes and winter storms, Mather said.
Students were assigned a SERT backpack filled with about $75 worth of equipment, including a neon green helmet and reflective vest, flashlight, batteries, first aid kit, masks and different colored tapes to separate critically injured patients from other victims, said Fire Battalion Commander Ken Baker.
The backpacks were purchased last year with a federal grant.
Once the school’s emergency management plan is updated, the backpacks will be located specifically where SERT grads can access them in a disaster.
Once they’ve passed the course, students also get a card identifying their eligibility to help in a disaster.
Faith High School’s SERT class won’t last all semester. It’s part of teacher Jessica Mathiak’s health class, now taught five days a week by Mather.
The 50-minute classes run a total of 20-35 hours, depending on class size and the students’ background.
Firefighters hope to take the program to every school in the Burton area, looking for sophomores and juniors who are interested in aiding in emergencies and who have the maturity to take it seriously.
“We hope they never have to use this stuff, but there’s a lot of training being put in place in case they do,” Baker said.