Saratoga CERT Membership Meeting

24 October 2019

1. Charles Rader chaired the meeting and announced that he has officially taken over as the Head of Saratoga CERT, replacing Brent Hailpern.  Charles will, for now, continue his division leadership responsibilities and Brent will continue his Ham Radio and CERT IT duties.

2. Introduction of attendees

3. 2020 Santa Clara County (i.e., countywide) CERT field training exercise is being planned for Mission College in April (current date is 4/25/20, but that date is not firm)

4. Upcoming training opportunities

For details see the CERT October Newsletter at https://saratogacert.org/2019/10/07/saratoga-cert-september-2019-newsletter/

  •         CERT Refresher – 11/14
  •         Stop the Bleed – 11/13 (Michael Grodin, Campbell CERT and SCC EMS paramedic)
  •         America Red Cross Basic First Aid (without CPR) – 11/6
  •         Ham Cram – 11/23

5. Training in 2020?

The Animal Sheltering training comprises both classroom training (about three hours in a morning session) followed by a three-to-four hour afternoon “hands on” exercise in which class attendees plan and set up a simulated pet animal shelter. This training is focused on domesticated/pet animals (think: cats, dogs, guinea pigs, birds, exotic pets such as iguanas and snakes, etc. and NOT large animals). Large animal rescue is handled by a separate Santa Clara County DSW volunteer group entitled the County of Santa Clara Large Animal Evacuation Team (SCCLAET). The Animal Sheltering training is conducted by a traveling training team from the City of Sacramento CERT organization. We will most likely team up with the City of Campbell CERT organization for this training.

The Red Cross Training and Shelter Exercise with Campbell CERT is the delayed/postponed ARC Shelter Operations Simulation exercise that we tried to organize for earlier this year. I will be coordinating with Steven Teeter, the head of Campbell CERT, to unify our request to Jim Mollerus (Mass Care Coordinator of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross) to get this simulation exercise scheduled. The exercise will most likely either take place at the Saratoga Prospect Center Friendship Hall building or at one of the larger rooms at the City of Campbell Community Center.

6. Where/when to recruit new members

  • Currently we do Blossom Festival in the spring, and the Saratoga Car Show in the summer       
  • Other possibilities:
    • Saratoga Farmers Market booth?
    • outreach to Saratoga Neighborhood Watch organization: show and tell at meetings, presence at block parties?
    • activities with Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce?

7. Do we want a CERT social event in January 2020 – perhaps the 3rd weekend? Charles will discuss with Crystal the idea proposed about an immediate post-holiday/new year pot luck for our CERT organization

8. Printed maps of Saratoga are available at City Hall – they should be part of our standard backpack list