CERT Con 2021 is almost here! Hosted by Fairfax, County VA. Visit the CERT Con Website to sign up today. CERTCON

It has been a very busy early spring here for Montgomery County CERT. We have partnered with MobileMed (a non-profit clinic providing heath care to underserved populations in Montgomery County) to assist at their vaccination clinics. They have provided vaccines for our volunteers in exchange for our help. We are also providing daily mobility assistance at the Germantown mass vaccination site, helping people move from parking lots to the facility and back. Our Go Team has stepped up in a big way on both of these missions, and we are lucky to have such dedicated volunteers like Rachel, Tom, Severin, Gerry and Bob who have been there almost every day. A tip of the helmet to Dave Mroz and Gerry Adcock for their leadership. More help is always welcome. To volunteer at both the MobileMed and the Germantown mass vaccination site, Check CERVIS for more details. Our CERT Training team has successfully debuted practical webinars \”Scene Safety and The Killers” (a great band name also!) Those events were well attended by our members. We have a fantastic group of folks leading the training team with Brett, David, Kathee, Kay, Joan, Nancy, as well as all our instructors who are responsible for leading the CERT Basic 21-01 class that is now underway. The training team will also present the scene safety webinar at CERTCON 2021 (May 18-23). If you haven’t registered for CERTCON yet, follow the links on the website and do it today! We continue to be optimistic that we can resume in-person training and meetings beginning as early as July. Watch this space for updates. Have a safe summer, follow the Covid -19 guidelines, and I look for ward to seeing each of you soon. Greg St. James

Here’s the May-June Alexandria CERT newsletter.  It has articles on home and child safety, and, for summer weather preparedness, flooding awareness and safety and windstorms.  As always, feel free to share the newsletter with family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. ALX-CERT-Newsletter-May-JunDownload

Please see the latest newsletter from our friends at Alexandria CERT. ALX-CERT-News-2021-02-Mar-AprDownload

A Spring 2021 Update: This month marks the official one year anniversary of our Montgomery County CERT COVID-19 Task Force. You may have noticed we have been quiet lately, but that is about to change. Our Go Team is currently on stand by to assist the county at Points of Distribution for COVID-19 vaccinations as that initiative ramps up, and we have entered a partnership with the non-profit MobileMed to assist at their vaccine distribution clinics in the county beginning later this month.  Watch your email for CERVIS messages. Our VERT team has kicked off out 2021 VERT NSF initiative working with four universities on leveraging technology wit trained (CERT) observers in emergencies. VERT\’s Civic Innovation Challenge Partnerships Our MC CERT training committee has been working very hard to develop and debut our first ever online practical webinar. Details under training for the March 20 webinar. We also plan another CERT Basic class later this spring. Our participation in the National Capitol Region CERT Consortium continues, the NCR Group consists of CERT Teams from MC, DC, AA, PG, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria.  We have created a 501C3 to help our combined efforts. Currently we are finishing details on a shared NCR wide CERT training calendar and website. The MC CERT annual election take place in April. A message will be sent out through CERVIS soon. Please check your email. A big thank you is in order to Mike McAdams for an excellent February general meeting presentation on the latest advances in high-tech Paramedicine in our county. The CERT 700 (refurbed Ambo) is almost ready. We are working with the PSTA to develop a driver\’s training program scheduled to roll out this summer. The Community Services Building  (old station 25) in Aspen Hill continues to be rehabbed. CERT will be making in our new HQ in late summer we anticipate. More details to follow. We remind all our members and friends to continue to practice social distance, wear a mask as needed, and stay safe. We all look for brighter days soon. Greg