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--> Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies:  BRACE

--> Escambia Community Emergency Response Teams:  CERT

--> 3rd Annual Youth Emergency Preparedness Expo:  YEP!

We would like to congratulate our 20 new Teen CERT graduates and our 5 new Advanced Teen CERT graduates!  Training was held Friday, May 4, 2012 - Sunday, May 6, 2012 at Escambia High School.  Participants included students from Escambia High School, Pensacola High School and Booker T. Washington High School.

Teen CERT graduates received 19 hours of training in Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety and Suppression, Search and Rescue, Medical Triage and Treatment, Disaster Psychology, Terrorism, and Team Organization.  They learned how to create an emergency supply kit, form a family emergency plan, practice triage and treatment of disaster survivors, put out a small fire, and many other life-saving techniques.

Advanced Teen CERT students were trained in"Cribbing" a technique used in Search and Rescue to safely remove survivors who are trapped under heavy objects.

BRACE would like to specially thank the following for making this event a big success!

♦ Randy Stemock, CERT Facilitator

♦ Traci Colomb-Farmer, CERT Facilitator

♦ Brad Dennis & Search Team, Klaas Kids Foundation

♦ Jewel Cannada-Wynn, Dean, Escambia High School

♦ Harold “Roy” Wilkinson, CERT Facilitator & Disaster Chair, ECOH

Thank you for your continued service to our community and for helping us engage our youth to make us the most disaster resilient community in the nation!

Join us for the 2012 BRACE Annual Meeting & Luncheon!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

11:30 am - 1 pm

Trinity Presbyterian Church

3400 Bayou Boulevard

Pensacola, Florida

Tickets: $15 per person

SPONSORSHIPS

You may purchase your tickets and/or sponsorship securely online by credit cart at Get Equipped. For other payment options, download and complete the order form below.

For additional information, contact Candace at (850) 444-7135 or candace@bereadyalliance.org.

Greg Strader, BRACE’s Founding Executive Director, was one of the 17 people recently honored at the White House as Champions of Change.

BRACE has undertaken a unique Community Partner Initiative with the goal of enhancing disaster readiness and response capabilities of community and faith-based organizations and businesses throughout Florida's northern Gulf Coast counties.

Between now and November 2012, BRACE's Community Partner Initiative will be working with county emergency management departments and numerous other agencies and organizations to strengthen relationships and disaster preparedness, response and recovery capabilities in the following counties:

♦ Bay County

♦ Franklin County

♦ Gulf County

♦ Okaloosa County

♦ Walton County

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

The primary goal of the Community Partner Initiative is to enhance each county's disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation capabilities by thoroughly engaging community and faith-based organizations along with the business community as participants in a county-wide Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) or Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) structure.

[1]  Community Partner Identification: Develop a comprehensive listing of community and faith-based organizations and businesses within each county that could assist in times of emergencies or disasters.

[2]  Resource Identification: While identifying community partners develop an inventory of any resources that could be accessed during emergencies or disasters.

[3]  Community Partner Meeting: Facilitate a series of county-wide meetings designed to bring community partners together to review and discuss the current readiness level of organizations and businesses to work as a unified team during emergencies or disasters.

[4]  COOP Exercise: Facilitate a series of continuity of operations exercises designed to help organizations and businesses strengthen their capability to survive a hurricane and remain operational to support thedisaster caused needs of county residents.

[5]  Best Practices: Identify best practices that are currently being implemented by community partners.

[6]  Statewide Hurricane Exercise: Participate in Florida's annual statewide hurricane exercise as a member of each county's VOAD/COAD to measure the capabilities of community and faith-based organizations and businesses working together to meet the needs of disaster survivors.

[7]  Training: Determine the training needs of each county, then schedule and facilitate the identified training.

A WHOLE COMMUNITY APPROACH TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

FEMA's "A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes and Pathways for Action" presents a foundation for increasing individual preparedness and engaging community partners in a collaborative effort to enhance the resiliency and security of our Nation through a Whole Community approach.

Thanks to a $47,940 grant from the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, BRACE will launch Teen Corps In Action to help our community establish a culture of preparedness. The grant will help fund the Youth Emergency Preparedness (YEP!) Expo that will be conducted as a 9-11 Remembrance Event on Saturday, September 10, 2011 at Bayview Park. The goal is to educate youth about the hazards faced by residents in our region and to engage them in future disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation efforts. Emergency Management, Public Safety, Medical Reserve Corps, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H will be among the twenty BRACE partner organizations that will be providing disaster educational information and opportunities engaging youth.

The grant will also allow BRACE to take its Teen Community Emergency Response Team (Teen CERT) program into our community high schools. The Teen CERT program will provide participating youth with over 17 hours of intensive training in disaster preparedness, fire safety, search & rescue, medical operations, disaster psychology, and terrorism response training.

Thanks to the State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant our community will be better prepared to coordinate volunteers to assist with future disasters. The grant will fund portable generators and laptop computers that will allow spontaneous volunteers to be quickly registered, assigned and supported in their efforts to provide urgent services in support of disaster survivors.

State Farm has long believed that for communities to thrive, young people must be empowered as leaders and decision-makers to address real issues and problems. The State Farm Youth Advisory Board is helping State Farm design and implement $5 million-a-year signature service learning initiatives. BRACE's Teen Corps In Action was one of 62 programs selected for funding out of 602 applications submitted.

Escambia County Administrator, Charles R. “Randy” Oliver,  is pleased to announce the launch of their new website: My Escambia Cares.  The website is designed to give citizens direct and easy access to the County’s online resources, providing them with support services and governmental transparency. The website is divided into two main sections: Citizen Support Center and Frequently Asked Questions. In the Citizen Support Center, you can ask a question, make a request, or find information about meetings and public records.  In the Frequently Asked Questions, you can find frequently called numbers, a quick reference guide to county services, building inspections information, Social Security Administration and more.  Additional features will be added in the near future.

For more information please contact the Office of Public Information at (850) 595-3476 or email to customer_service@myescambia.com.

A 13 year old girl who received CERT training through her Girl Scout troop in Missouri saved an elderly woman from a fire in her home in April of 2011.

Alexis Becker, a Cadette Girl Scout and St. Charles County Teen CERT member, was at home playing outside when she heard screams. Alexis followed the sound of the screaming to the home of an elderly neighbor. She didn't know the neighbor but noticed signs of fire coming from the house, so she convinced the woman to leave her home. The fire started when the woman mistakenly put an electric crock pot on her stove's heating element.

The woman was in a state of shock and had not yet called 9-1-1 despite the evident signs of a fire, so Alexis called the fire department for her. The woman was also reluctant to leave her home without her dog, but Alexis remained calm and convinced her to leave the house, promising to try to get the dog out safely as well. Alexis knew from her CERT training that it would be unsafe to reenter the house, so she called for the dog from the front door, and fortunately, the dog quickly came outside to safety as well. The fire department soon came to extinguish the blaze. The woman and her dog were unharmed, and her home survived with only minor damage.

Alexis told Mark Rosenblum, program director for the St. Charles County Teen CERT, that she would not have known what to do if it had not been for the CERT training she received through her Girl Scout troop. In fact, Alexis Becker had just completed her CERT training in March of 2011 when she was called into service to help her elderly neighbor. Rosenblum said, "My wife calls it my volunteer full-time job, but it's worth it if even one kid goes to the CERT training and saves somebody's life."