Mira Loma High School students demonstrate emergency response skills
On Dec. 11, 2008, the Sacramento Region Citizen Corps Council for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a mock disaster drill at Mira Loma High School to test emergency preparedness of the Teen Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members:
A loud explosion in one of the Science Labs at Mira Loma High School sends some students out of the classroom with bloodied noses and arms. There are many other students inside the classroom moaning and wailing still comprehending what happened. The Principal, Ms Valerie Lott and the Vice-Principal, Mr Peyton Fatherree, who recently joined the school, were touring the property and come immediately to the disaster site. They assess the situation and immediately radio for help and for someone to call 911 for emergency services.
For dozen or so freshmen members of the Just for the Health of It! Club - it is a call for duty. Recently in November 2008, these kids volunteered an entire weekend and the Veteran's Day holiday to get trained by Dept of Homeland Security and become certified Teen Community Emergency Response Team - Teen CERT in short.
The Teen CERT members at Mira Loma don their helmets and other protective gear. Niharika Gupta, the founder President of the Just for the Health of It! Club takes lead and divides the team into three groups to "size-up, light search and rescue, triage and treatment" the victims. They collect as much information as possible about the situation till emergency responders from Sac Fire and Sac PD are on site. This helps the emergency responders in taking care of the victims fast and efficiently and minimizes casualties. Tarps are laid out in the lawn and the teams begin search, rescue and triage operations.
Although this was only a mock disaster, the drill was set up to test the knowledge of these students in assisting emergency responders in similar situations at the school or in their communities. The students at Mira Loma were joined in this exercise by students from El Camino High School who attended a similar training during Thanksgiving break. Over fifty students from Mira Loma High School played the role of victims as their teachers - Mrs Rochelle Jacks (Mira Loma), Ms Jennifer Dorunda (El Camino), school administrators from Mira Loma and El Camino along with Mr Ethan Hoff, the Safe schools administrator from San Juan Unified School District watched the events unfold and the students respond to the situation calmly and in an organized manner.
Ms. Carol Willis, Teen CERT coordinator for the Dept of Homeland Security led the team of examiners who evaluated the students. At the end of the exercise, all of the examiners provided their feedback. They were extremely impressed with the professionalism and thoroughness of all teams who scored perfectly and demonstrated that they are well prepared to take on their roles in the event of an actual disaster either at their schools or in their communities.
The Teen CERT program at Mira Loma started with Niharika Gupta, a freshman and founder of the Just for the Health of It! club reading about the Teen CERT program on the Internet and inviting Ms. Carol Willis to present the program at one of the club meetings. The Teen CERT activities and other activities of the Just for the Health of It! Club allow the students at Mira Loma to earn community service credits they need for the International Baccaleurate (IB) program that they attend at Mira Loma. Ms. Rochelle Jacks, the club advisor for the Just for the Health of It! club at Mira Loma High commended the students for their dedication to their communities and volunteering their weekend and break to get trained.
