CERT - WVC Campus Emergency Response Team

West Valley College District is a community of nearly 12,000 people, and its 'residents' depend on it for their livelihood, education and other services. Yet the College could be severely impacted by the effects of a major earthquake, a prolonged winter storm, a serious hazardous materials spill, or other disaster. At a minimum, services and support from Saratoga and County, or the State will likely be committed elsewhere for up to a week or more.

In order to better prepare each campus for such an emergency, the College has established the need of a Campus Emergency Response Teams (CERT's). This team will utilize emergency supplies being cached on each campus. The first 24-hour CERT training course will held at West Valley College and be co-hosted by the Park Management Department and the City of Saratoga.

CERT Training will touch on 8 subject areas and will provide basic skills needed to assist disaster victims. The course is free to College and District employees with all materials provided. The course will take place over a period of 7 weeks. For your scheduling convenience there will be two identical sessions. One will occur on six Tuesday evenings from 6-10 p.m. beginning October 28, 2008 and the second will be on 5 Saturday mornings starting on November 1, 2008, with the graduation and final exercise on Tuesday, December 9th. The Saturday classes will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. All classes will be held in the Applied Arts and Sciences building, room 37 (the Park Management classroom). The training will finish up with a 4 hour practical exercise designed to put all of the new CERT skills to the test.