Chief Danny Thompson welcomes 11 C.E.R.T. graduates

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Eleven Dawson County citizens willing to step forward to render aid to their neighbors during times of a disaster graduated from Community Emergency Response Training Tuesday evening.

Amy Crane, Chris Dewalt, Brittni Faulkenburg, Stephanie Fedoruk, William Goode, Ryan Jacobs, Alex Kinney, April Ketels, Dave Lenhardt, Mike Maciolek and Irene Voyles were honored in a graduation ceremony at Fire Station 2.

Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services Director Danny Thompson addressed the graduates saying:

“We really hope we never have to use the C.E.R.T. team. It’s really one of those things you hope to teach, hope to prepare as a community but never have that natural disaster that requires us to rely upon our citizens to help us.

But here in emergency services, we 14 people every day so you take a simple tornado that touches down in a neighborhood and our resources are taxed at that moment. So we need to be self-sustaining. To be able to be self-sustaining, we need to rely on the citizens to be that transport element. You may be transporting sick or injured people that we just can’t get to. You may be effective going in and rescuing people, using these skills you have learned.

“You’ve shown an initiative to come in , participate over many weeks of classroom training to give back to your community and this is just a way for us in Emergency Services and the Fire Department to say thank you.”

C.E.R.T. Trainer Charley Hobgood encouraged graduates to “take the training you received back to your family. You’re going to make your families more strong, more prepared for whatever can go wrong, whatever disaster can happen. Share it with everybody you know in your community. Go to your HOAs, your churches. Work wherever you can to help other people get ready.”

 

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