Just a footnote....

These are just a few pictures of the event that took place on March 28,2009.

I am working on the video and will have it together shortly.

There are so many great pictures to choose from. Look for it on here soon.

As well at the April recruitment event at the Burlington Center April 18th & 19th.


Thanks

A Special Note of Thanks from Palmyra Office of Emergency Management

To All,

I would like to echo this email and thank each of you for taking time out of your busy Saturday to assist Palmyra OEM in this exercise we all learned a lot from this and we will continue to grow because of it. Thanks again!


Rich Dreby

Palmyra OEM

Thumpers Revenge March 28, 2009

Fifty-one (51) members participated in the full-scale POD exercise held at the Palmyra Harbor Clubhouse on March 28th. This event was a tremendous success. Our members assisted with POD management and acted as role-players. The positive results of this event were accomplished by the dedication and hard work of our members. Please forward a “THANK YOU” and “JOB WELL DONE” to the members of your specific groups:

MRC: Bonnie Christopher, Karen Cutler, Gary Ford, Virginia Ford, Yvonne Grinnell, Matt Kascar, Fran Kenney, Anita Kranz, Kathy Livingston, Evelyn Modlin, Robert Manoil, Janet Siler, Claudia Storicks


Burlington City/Twp CERT: Frank Caruso, Michele Moore, Alan Rennard, Kevin Tuno, Bill Walker

Evesham CERT: Susan Bauer, Deborah Reiss, Chuck Sansone

Moorestown CERT: Susan Stevens, Andrew Walko

Mount Laurel CERT: Lena Counts, Mike Kotlarek, Jerry Parker

Pinelands Regional CERT: Bill Gates

Pemberton CERT: Dawn Hatch, Sue MacDonald, Christine Schemelia, Rich Schemelia

Tri-Boro CERT: Rich Dreby, Margaret Genzano, Josephine Grimes, Wendy Haniman, Diana Horen, Tracy Kilmer, Mary Lou Mascarin-Szeman, Jim May, Ed Spooner, Joann O'Donnell, Tom O'Donnell, Sheila Reynolds, Joe Threston, Lisa Threston, Cindi Vee, Chuck Young, Eileen Young

Willingboro CERT: John Carroll Jr, John Carroll III, Charlie Day, Gary Johnson

Tri-Boro CERT Sets Up the Emergency Shelter

Eileen put together this video of the March 14th, 2009 training event. Lots of fun putting up this massive shelter/tent.

Watch the video below...

Exercise Briefing Agenda- March 28, 2009

Palmyra Harbour Condominium Association
2000 Harbour Drive
"Thumper's Revenge,Continued-Muni-Pod Exercise


8:30am-9:00am
Registration at Palmyra Municipal Building
20 W. Broad Street-
2nd Floor in the Court Room

Participants will sign in, receive participant ID.
coffee/donuts will be served.

9:00am Briefing of participants will begin


9:15 LEPC/EOC Staff will open EOC

9:30 MRC/CERT will be transported to POD location to begin set-up


10:30-- ***THROUGHPUT WILL BEGIN ***
11:30



11:30 am Noon Conclussion of Exercise



Noon Hot Wash/ Lunch

Meeting Minutes -March 18, 2009

AGENDA
March 18, 2009

1)Review of Preparations for Exercise of March-28th-
we are to meet at 8:000 at the Palmyra Fire House
participants will be shuttled to the Palmyra Harbour Clubhouse.

a)EOC/ICS- Command Structure-
b)POD Command Structure
c)Clinic Flow Plan/Pre-Pod/ Muni- POD Floor Plan

2)Core Group Meeting for Recruitment-Team members Carol Norton Foell,Ed Spooner & Lisa Threston volunteered to represent Tri-Boro for the Committee.
This year it will take place at the Burlington Center on April 18th & 19th (Sat & Sun). We will need volunteers from our team to be available for the recruitment campaign. Please keep these dates available and let us know at next month meeting.

3)The Medford CERT had a course ”Working with the Special Needs Community" on February 24th-- both Cindi Vee & Ed Fay were on hand representing Tri-Boro. Both Cindi & Ed briefly explained to the team the details of the course,how interesting this was,and they were glad to have attended the course. This is the same course that Wayne is going to offer to our team sometime soon, once we get in on our schedule. We will keep everyone posted.

4)Activation--The Willingboro Township Police Department requested CERT assistance with a missing person search on March 6th & 7th. They were investigating the disappearance of a 76 year old female with dementia who was last seen at 9:45am on March 4th. Unfortunately during the early evening hours, the body of the missing person (deceased) was discovered along the banks of the Delaware River in Beverly. Those Tri-Boro Members that assisted were: Margaret Genzano, Mary Lou Mascarin-Szeman, Chuck Young, and Eileen Young.
Margaret and Marylou both shared their experience with the team. It was noted that they felt that had they received the "search & rescue" training they may have been better prepared, however they were commended for a job well done by not just our team, but from the county level on down.
It was also noted that the "search & rescue " training was offered last year- then postponed. Hopefully this year it will be offered again. We will put that on our wish list to Wayne Comegno for additional training.

5)Gatekeeper Tent (set-up & break-down training)-video of Training on March 14,2009, will be posted on team website.Due to technical difficulties it did not play during the course of our meeting.

6)Palmyra Safety Day- Please keep May 2nd Available – We are going to need volunteers for our CERT table.

7)Medical forms- If you have not turned your form in – please do so as soon as possible.

Adjourn meeting.

Team meeting minutes will be posted shortly

Another sad note to pass along....

Unfortunately we are sad to announce the passing of Tri-Boro CERT Team Leader Colleen (Dahlman)Arndt's Grandmother who passed away suddenly on March 17, 2009. The following information is in regards to the services.

Viewing for Veronica Dahlman-will be held Sunday night- March 22, 2009 at Sweeney's Funeral Home on Bridgeboro Road in Riverside, New Jersey from 6:00-8:00pm. Monday morning -March 23, 2009 viewing from 9:00am -10:00am, followed by Mass at 10:30 am at St Pete's Church across the street from funeral home,followed by burial at St. Pete's Cemetery on Bridgeboro Rd.

The official announcement did not make it into today's newspaper, however it should be in there tomorrow, BCT.

REMINDER: The Palmyra OEM will be conducting a full-scale POD training exercise on March 28th (Saturday) at the Harbor Clubhouse

Just a quick REMINDER: The Palmyra Office of Emergency Management will be conducting a full-scale Point of Distribution (POD) training exercise on March 28th at the Palmyra Harbour Clubhouse. This event will start at 8am and will be done at approximately 12 noon.Volunteers will be needed to assist with POD management,along with participating as role players. All CERT/CART/MRC members are invited to participate.

Family members (children of any age) are also invited to participate, but only as role players. The role players will be used to simulate residents receiving prophylaxis medication at the POD, going through the various stations and asking questions. There is a possibility we may use our 19'x35' Gatekeeper Tent (weather permitting) for this exercise.

If the tent is used,we will utilize our CERT Instructors along with ten (10)Tri-Boro CERT members for the set-up & break-down.

Any assistance will be appreciated. Please contact either Wayne,Rick,Tracy,Chuck or Eileen to let them know if they are volunteering for assisting with the POD management, or participating as a role players. Please advise one of us ASAP.

Thanks,

Eileen

Western Shelter "Gatekeeper Tent" training course held on March 14th at the Palmyra High School

Ten (10) Tri-Boro CERT members successfully completed the Western Shelter "Gatekeeper Tent" training course held on March 14th at the Palmyra High School. Seven (7) of our CERT members provided the instructions for this class.

Please pass-on "Congratulations" to our Tri-Boro members and a "Job Well Done" to our instructors.
Tri-Boro CERT: Margaret Genzano, Wendy Haniman, Mary Lou Mascarin-Szeman, Jim May, Tom O'Donnell, Sheila Reynolds, Ed Spooner, Joe Threston, Chuck Young, Eileen Young

Instructors: John Carroll Jr (Willingboro CERT); Lena Counts (Mt Laurel CERT); Charlie Day (Willingboro CERT); Alex Elefante (Burlington City/Twp CERT), Gary Johnson (Willingboro CERT), Nella Jonessess (Burlington City/Twp CERT); Jerry Parker (Mt Laurel CERT)

Wayne Comegno

Thank-You to fellow CERT Folks !!!!!

"Thank-you" to fellow CERT folks who took their time to come to Palmyra on March 14,2009 to Train the "Tri-Boro" team on the Western Shelter System. Those members that were on hand as instructors were John Carroll, Charlie Day,Gary Johnson,Nella Jonessee, Jerry Parker, Lena Countes, Alex Elafante,& Wayne Comegno.

Ten members of Tri-Boro were on hand: Chuck Young, Eileen Young, Sheila Reynolds, Ed Spooner, Tom O'Donnell, Mary Lou Mascarin Szeman, Margaret Genzano,Jim May, Wendy Haniman,Joe Threston.

2009 recruitment/public awareness initative have been confirmed-April 18th & April 19th

The dates for our 2009 recruitment/public awareness initative have been confirmed. Last year we had 70 members volunteer their services and the event was a tremendous success.Our members greeted over 500 shoppers,provided them with pamphlets pertaining to emergency preparedness and recruited 52 new members.

This year we will have 2 trailers (CERT & CART) along with eight 8 tables at the Burlington Center on April 18th (Saturday) & April 19th (Sunday). We will also have one (1)CERT trailer & command tent located outside in the parking lot area. All Burlington County CERT, CART, MRC, NWG are invited to participate. This recruitment initative is a great opportunity for everyone to help improve their organizations, but to be successful we must have volunteers from each group. We need members to help clean, prepare and remove the trailers. We also need members for the staffing of tables, along with the set-up and break-down of equipment on both days. You must canvass your membership for volunteers who wish to be involved with this project. The deadline for a commitment of volunteers is April 10th.

Those Tri-Boro members that are interested are to
contact either Chuck or Eileen and they will forward the names of team members to the contact person from(Pemberton CERT) with date & times that you are available. She needs this information ASAP so she can establish the schedule.

Additional information pertaining to staging, job assignments and logistics will be provided at a later date.

April 11th (Saturday) 9am: cleaning, waxing & testing all equipment at the Willingboro OEM -need 8 members

April 17th (Friday) 9pm: transport trailers from Willingboro
OEM to inside the mall -need 8 members

April 18th (Saturday) Burlington Center
8am-10am: set-up & test all equipment need 6 members
10am-2pm: staff tables & greet people -need 16 members
2pm-6pm staff tables & greet people need 16 members
6pm: breakdown equipment- need six 6 members

April 19th Sunday Burlington Center
9am-10am: set-up & test all equipment need six 6 members
10am-2pm: staff tables & greet people- need 16 members
2pm-5pm: staff tables & greet people -need 16 members
5pm: breakdown equipment -need 6 members
6pm: remove trailers from mall to Willingboro OEM -need 8 members

Saturday March 14, 2009- 10:00 am Western Shelter Tent Training

We have officially been approved to use of the Palmyra High School for our training exercise for Saturday March 14th.Just got the official word from our Director of Emergency Management Rick Dreby today.So all team who have signed up for this training please report to the High School prior to 10:00am. We will have visitors provided by County Coordinator Comegno and other CERT Team members who have already had the training. They will be there assisting us with learning these new skills.

We would like to take this time now to personally thank them in advance for taking their time out on a Saturday to be a part of this training exercise and assisting the Tri-Boro Cert Team.

On behalf of all the Tri-Boro Members.

Thank-You

CERT Assistance with a Missing Person Search on March 6th and March 7th

The following is an email that was forwarded to Rick,Tracy,Chuck & Myself from Wayne. Chuck has asked me to forward this on to everyone on his behalf.

CERT/CART/MRC Coordinators & Managers,

The Willingboro Township Police Department requested CERT assistance with a missing person search on March 6th (Friday) and March 7th (Saturday). They were investigating the disappearance of a seventy-six (76) year old female with dementia who was last seen at 9:45am on March 4th (Wednesday). On March 6th, twelve (12) CERT members assisted with the search and on March 7th, forty-one (41) CERT members assisted with the search. Even though this search took place primarily in Willingboro and Edgewater Park, the areas covered by our members consisted of heavy woods, thick brush and rough & uneven terrain. The results of our members' efforts provided negative results and the search was eventually called-off during the afternoon hours. Unfortunate during the early evening hours, the body of the missing person (deceased) was discovered along the banks of the Delaware River in Beverly.

I would like to commend each of our CERT/CART/MRC Coordinators & Managers for preparing and having their members in a standby status. I would also like to personal thank and commend each of our members who participated in this two (2) day event. This was the first county-wide activation of our CERT groups. I was extremely impressed with how well our members followed directions, remained enthusiastic and motivated. Our members worked as a team, continuously displayed a professional attitude and proudly represented Burlington County. The positive results of this event were accomplished by the dedication and hard work of our members. From what I observed on Friday & Saturday, I am very confident that our leadership and members will function admirably regardless of what situation may arise.


Please forward a “THANK YOU” and “JOB WELL DONE” to the members of your specific groups.

MARCH 6th (Friday)

Burlington City/Twp CERT: Alex Elefante

Mount Laurel CERT: Marsha Cavender, Jim Kollasch, Ron Lundgren, Bhavanna Patel, Lewis Smith, Joyce Waddington

Willingboro CERT: John Caroll Jr, Charlie Day, Ida Handy, Gary Johnson, Barbara Payton

MARCH 7th (Saturday)

Burlington City/Twp CERT: Frank Caruso, Alex Elefante, Sabra Jernigan, Nella Jonessee, Cindy Kossove, Lisa Smith, Kevin Tuno, Bill Walker, Greg Zalaskus

Evesham CERT: Arline Dolich, Ira Dolich, Kathy Kennedy

Medford CERT: Linda Andrews, Bob Brandt, Karen Dye, Gary Kinney, Mike Pannarella, Jeff Wagner

Moorestown CERT: Andrew Walko

Mount Laurel CERT: Lena Count, Jerry Parker, June Kotlarek, Mike Kotlarek, Annette Tremper, Joyce Waddington

Pemberton CERT: Dawn Hatch, Elaine Horler

Tri-Boro CERT: Margaret Genzano, Mary Lou Mascarin-Szeman, Chuck Young, Eileen Young

Willingboro CERT: John Carroll Jr, Charlie Day, Kathy Destremps, Sally Elbridge, Greg Gidney, Gary Johnson, Noble Jones, Richard Kington, John Larocco, Clyde Zarkos

Thanks,
Wayne Comegno
Burlington County OEM

Gatekeeper" Shelter System Training March 14th 2009- This Saturday

Tri-Boro (with the assistance provided by Wayne and fellow CERT members that have already had the training )we will be offering on-site training to learn the complete set-up, take-down and re-packing of the County's new 19'x35' "Gatekeeper" shelter system. This training will take place on March 14th 2009(Saturday).
In one of the Palmyra Schools- The final location has not been determined as of this date,however as soon as that date is finalized those team members that have notified either Eileen or Chuck that you will be available will be contacted. Also a sign will be posted at the original location (Palmyra Firehouse).We had to change the location due to the size of the structure once assembled.
Class will be from 10 am until approx 12pm. Remember this is a (hands-on) and the selected individuals must be willing to teach other members. We need to have between eight (8) to ten 10) members attend this training. Once we have our members trained, they can teach you other team members on another date.

If you have not notified us regarding the 28th exercise,please do so as well.Deputy Coordinator Kilmer needs to have an approximate count of participants prior to the event.

Thanks,

Eileen Young
Tri-Boro CERT
Team Secretary

Meeting Reminder --March 18th

Reminder to all Tri-Boro members- 7:00pm at Palmyra EMS Building.

Responding to Persons with Special Needs Course held on Feb 24, 2009

Fifteen (15) of our members successfully completed the "Responding to Persons with Special Needs" course held on February 24th at the Medford Township EMS Headquarters. Mike Panarrella (Medford CERT) provided the instructions for the class. Please pass-on a job "Job Well Done" to Mike and "Congratulations" to the attending members of your specific groups.


CART: Sherry Rockhill-Smith

MRC: Judy Bramble

Burlington City & Township CERT: Bill Walker

Medford CERT: Linda Andrews, Robert Brandt, Karen Dye, Tracey Hessinger, Joe Ilvento, Rich Lewis, Terri Palmer-Shover, Dawn Plowman, Lisa Post, Bruce Rickert

Tri-Boro CERT: Edwin Fay, Cindi Vee
Thanks,

Wayne Comegno
Burlington County OEM

Combined Meeting of LEPC/CERT/MRC

Basic discussion was the Pre Pod Exercise of March 28th- what we are going to be doing. A brief overview was given by Rick Dreby, Tracy Kilmer,Palmyra Office of Emergency Management and Mary Ann Flatley from the Medical Reserve Corp (MRC) Handouts were given to all in attendance. During our meeting in March we will briefly go over this once again to make sure that we have everyone on the same page as to our game plan for the day. When it came to the Cert portion of the meeting Coordinator Young touched base on a few items. We also had handouts for the team regarding upcoming events,in-service trainings and first responder/household member medical information forms. The following is a brief overview of the Cert portion of the meeting and the handouts.

1)Review of Quarterly CERT/CART MRC Meeting-

a)Core Group Meeting for Recruitment-Last year- Diana, Lisa & Eileen were part of this committee- if anyone from Tri-Boro interested in being part of the committee- please let me know and we will put you in touch with the others, last year was very successful. This year it will take place at the Burlington Center on April 18th & 19th (Sat & Sun). We will need volunteers from our team to be available for the recruitment campaign. Please keep these dates available and let us know at next month meeting.

b) The Medford CERT will be sponsoring a Working with the Special Needs Community assessment course at 7pm on February 24th (Tuesday) at the Medford EMS Headquarters located at 20 Jackson Road Medford, New Jersey 08055. This class is available to all CERT/CART/MRC members. There are approximately twenty (20) seats available. This course is to raise awareness about the needs of people with special needs during all phases of emergency situations. This class will be offered several times during 2009 at different locations throughout Burlington County. This will be offered periodically throughout the year- dates and locations will be determined at a later time. Wayne will get back to us regarding a date and time for our training class.

c) The BCOEM will be receiving a CERT Command Trailer from the New Jersey Citizen Corps & the New Jersey OEM. This trailer will be equipped with a tent and incident command type materials. The trailer is part of a regional deployment strategic plan and will be available to all CERT/CART/MRC units within Burlington County, along with any CERT unit within the southern region of the state. Once the trailer is received and fully stocked, BCOEM will conduct several training exercises to familiarize our members with the trailer, its contents and deployment capabilities. The trailer deployment event will be held at 11:30am on March 5th (Thursday) at the New Jersey State Police South Headquarters in West Trenton. This is a very short ceremony and it is being held on a weekday, but any CERT/CART/MRC member is invited to attend. The State would like all members to wear their green CERT vest or red MRC vest to this event. The BCOEM must be at the location by 10am; we can transport several members with us to help someone save gas. Please let Wayne know ASAP if any of our members would like to attend.

Note: NJOEM is now accepting nominations for a trailer deployment to local CERT units that is tentatively scheduled for September 2009. We will once again be submitting our paperwork supporting a utility trailer for Tri-Boro CERT and a flood trailer for Pemberton CERT.

D) In-Service Training-

Managing the Emotional Consequences of the Financial Crisis in Care-Giving Organizations Course offered by the Burlington County COAD.Class will be held at the Burlington County Human Services Facility on February 21-9am to 12noon.
Members should have registered themselves on line.

POD Management Course offered by the Burlington County Health Department.Class will be held at the ESTC on March 7th (Saturday); 10 am to 12noon.

Gatekeeper Tent (set-up & break-down training): three(3)hour class offered by BCOEM.Currently we have twenty-five (25) instructors.Classes to be held throughout the County (need locations & dates).BCOEM will transport tent and supplies to your location. Class should be limited to ten (10) members.

Special Needs Awareness Course: three (3) hours class offered by BCOEM. Currently we have six (6) instructors.Classes to be held throughout the County (need locations & dates). Student workbooks will be supplied by the NJOEM at no cost.

American Red Cross CPR/AED course. All CERT/CART members will be trained at the basic level.Instructors needed for CPR/AED; American Red Cross Classes to be held throughout the County (need locations & dates). Workbooks & certificates will be purchased by BCOEM.

Missing Person & Evidential Search Course: five(5)hour class offered by the Civil Air Patrol.Class to be held at the ESTC (March or April).Future class will be scheduled for early fall.

Preliminary Damage Assessment Course: four (4)hour class offered by BCOEM.Class to be held at the ESTC (early summer).Future class is scheduled for late winter.

Leadership Course: four (4) hour course offered by the Burlington County Volunteer Center. Classes to be held throughout the County (need locations & dates).
Each CERT group can send up to five (5) members.Workbooks & certificates will be purchased by BCOEM.

Hydration/Rehabilitation of First Responders Course;class hours to be established.Course must be developed by Mount Laurel EMS.Train members how to assist and support.
Classes to be held throughout the County. (need locations & dates).


2)Hepatitis B Shots- Most of us finished with our series. Cinnaminson Fire Department is currently offering these shots to their members on the following dates February 16th and March 16th. However the February 16th may have had to been re-scheduled due to a house fire in Palmyra where they were in town here providing coverage. For those of you that missed any shots you were all notified given the telephone number for Interstate Mobile to make the arrangements and instructed that for billing purposes all correspondences were to go directly to Tracy Kilmer- Palmyra Office of Emergency Management- 20 W. Broad Street. Palmyra, N.J. 08065. According to Interstate Mobile those that did not complete the series were reminded of the dates and the telephone number for interstate mobile to make the arrangements.


Questions / Comments –none

Members present: Chuck Young, Eileen Young,Colleen Arndt, Edwin Fay, Margaret Genzano, Josephine Grimes, Jim May, Tom O'Donnell, Sheila Reynolds, Lisa Threston, Cindi Vee.

Absent: Carol Norton Foell, Wendy Haniman(excused),Diana Horen(excused),Ed Spooner, Marty Spooner(excused),Mary Lou Mascarin- Szeman, Joe Threston,Marie Walsh.


Also in attendance were various members of both Palmyra & Riverton's LEPC and members of the Medical Reserve Corp, as well as County Coordinator Wayne Comegno.

Adjourn meeting. 8:40

Sorry with the delay in posting the meeting minutes

Due to some health issues I was unable to post the meeting minutes on here in a timely manner. I apologize for that. At the present time I will post the information from the meeting of the 19th. In the next few days I will try to bring everything current.
Again sorry for the delay..

Thanks