By MARY GREEN

South Whidbey Fire/EMS Chief Rusty Palmer recently led neighbors from three adjacent subdivisions in South Whidbey through a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training in disaster preparedness.

Chief Palmer selflessly gave up an entire weekend to inform and prepare participants to cope with a catastrophic earthquake, the most likely disaster to occur here that could render emergency resources unavailable for one to three weeks. We learned what to do without emergency medical care and fire department services, how to prepare for adequate food and water, what to do about lack of utilities, and how to mitigate the results of the crisis.

CERT training teaches neighbors how to be self-sufficient in helping each other. What sounded like overwhelming purposes for the training made us skeptical that we could even endure the 20 hours of instruction let alone learn enough to actually be useful in such a disaster.

Whether our learning was sufficient or not remains to be seen, but Chief Palmer deserves the highest praise for his skillful and winsome teaching style that encouraged, engaged, inspired, and motivated us to not only successfully complete the course, but to continue learning and organizing with our neighbors. We know a lot more than we did and, combined with neighbors we didn’t know before, Chief Palmer created a team better prepared to help each other.

An unsung hero for our community, Chief Palmer’s 40 years of experience in fire safety and disaster response is a valuable resource for our community. The knowledge and practical skills gained through the CERT course could be life-saving for you or someone who lives nearby. At the very least, taking a CERT course is a remarkable way to become part of your community and find a friend in your fire chief.

There is no charge for this excellent course that benefits our community.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mary Green lives in Clinton with her husband, Bob Green. They took the class together.