HandsOn Suburban Chicago supports Prairie State Challenge

Posted November 18, 2014 10:00 pm

Submitted by HandsOn Suburban Chicago

A Community Emergency Response Team volunteer gears up to be challenged. Courtesy of HandsOn Suburban Chicago

HandsOn Suburban Chicago's Disaster Services specialist Linda Trilling supported the 2014 Prairie State Community Emergency Response Team on Saturday, Oct. 18.

The event was organized by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and hosted this year by the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The training experience included 11 CERT teams from different areas within Illinois. They competed against each other in such areas as interior searches, exterior searches, team building, triage/treatment, fire/utilities and transport.

Scenarios were set up throughout the Homeland Education Center: The mock courtroom, the street scene, the outdoor training tower, several classrooms and the smoke room.

HandsOn Suburban Chicago led the recruitment, registration, placement and management of volunteers during the six month planning period and on the day of the event.

Over 300 volunteers supported this effort and came from a variety of locations. Twenty-three volunteers were actually nursing students from the College of DuPage and collectively contributed 2,630 total volunteer hours.

For information on the event, visit www.state.il.us/iema/citizencorps/default.asp.

For over 40 years, HandsOn Suburban Chicago has been inspiring, equipping and mobilizing people to volunteer and take action that builds vibrant and prosperous communities. HOSC recruits and refers 10,000 volunteers annually to over 200 plus member agency nonprofits and provides other support to local charitable organizations, such as consultations and trainings. A nonprofit 501(c)(3) agency and part of the national HandsOn Network, HOSC service area includes 44 communities in the North and Northwest suburbs and a population of over 1.4 million residents.

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Community Emergency Response Team provides treatment at a simulated auto accident, to an injured role player. Courtesy of HandsOn Suburban Chicago

Challenge leader Connie Brooks gives instructions to Curt Cliff at the staging station. Courtesy of HandsOn Suburban Chicago

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