We were on 107.9 THE END!

On February 21, 2009, JHI members were interviewed on 107.9 by Chris K. JHI toured the pediatrics floor at UC DAVIS Children's Hospital. Meeting families and children was a truly inspiring moment.

Special Olympics

Congratulations on getting through finals and welcome to a new semester at Mira Loma. Lots of events and activities in Just for the Health of It! are planned, so keep up to date on the blog. Our next meeting, on January 22, 2008, we have a special guest from Special Olympics of Northern Sacramento. Special Olympics is a fantastic way to earn community service and a great organization to be part of.

P.S. Congratulations to Maggie and Angelina Sorokin for becoming a volunteer at Mercy!

Teen CERT in San Juan District News

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.

For more information on the Just for the Health of It! club, go to http://jhi-ml.blogspot.com/. For further information on the Teen CERT program, go to http://www.srccc.org/.

CERT Graduation

Tomorrow, Thursday December 11, the CERT team will come to Mira Loma to conduct a simulated disaster followed by graduation for everyone who attended the CERT training at our school and El Camino.

The disaster exercise is a joint exercise with El Camino and will be held after school in front of Mrs Jacks classroom (D-2). Parents are welcome to attend.

Anyone who did not attend CERT training is welcome to attend as observers and/or play victims in the disaster.

Teen CERT Training at Mira Loma High

Couple of weeks back, Ms. Carol Willis of Dept of Homeland Security had come to our club meeting to talk about the Teen Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. Since everyone was very excited about the program, she has been able to arrange the Teen CERT training for our club.

When: Saturday 8th Nov, Sunday 9th Nov and Tuesday 11th Nov, 2008
Time: 8am to 5pm on each day
Where: Mira Loma High Room D-2

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 24-hour Teen CERT training will count towards community service requirement for IBMYP program. This training will complete this year's requirement (20 hours) for community service for the IBMYP students.

Sign up: Email Donna Davami or sign up at our club meeting this Thursday Nov 6th.

As you are aware, the Teen CERT training is a 24-hour training divided into three sessions. The core Teen CERT program has three main goals. First, it will seek to provide students with a knowledge base on the effects of natural and man-made disasters and their emotional, social, and economic impacts. Secondly, it will aim to build decision-making and problem solving skills and strategies to help students make informed decisions regarding readiness, response & recovery and mitigation efforts to reduce loss of life and property. Last, an integral part of the Teen CERT program will be to provide students with hands-on training using reality-driven drills and exercises.

Subsequent to the training, everyone who gets training will be able to participate in spreading awareness about disaster preparedness at various community events. We will also visit other communities in Sacramento region to talk about potential disasters such as floods and terrorism for which the community needs to be prepared.

***SIGN UP TODAY - DON' T MISS THIS EXCITING GROUP TRAINING EXERCISE & THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPLETE YOUR CS HOURS WHILE HAVING FUN***

Speaker - Ms Brenda Brozek - Opportunities and Role of Registered Nurses

Friends
Our next speaker will be Ms. Brenda Brozek, Executive Director Association of California Nurse Leaders. She will come to our next meeting this week on Thursday, November 6th, 2008.

Ms. Brenda Brozek will talk to us about the role and opportunities for Registered Nurses. This will be another great educational opportunity for our club members to learn about various careers in healthcare profession.

Please make sure you attend the meeting this week and bring in your friends.

Niharika

Speaker - Sandeep Reddy - Public Health

This week on Thursday, October 30th, our next speaker will be Dr. Sandeep Reddy (Sharath's Dad). Dr Reddy will talk about Public Health.

This will be a great opportunity for our club members to learn about the role of healthcare professionals in Public Health. Please remember to come at lunch time to Room D-2 for our club meeting.