Submitted by Don Janelle

When it is all reduced to its lowest common denominator, CERT teams do three very important things.

#1 (and most important): We are prepared and we prepare our families for a sudden or prolonged emergency. Additionally, every CERT team member is better trained and equipped (physically and mentally) to help their neighbors during an emergency that affects our immediate neighborhood. We know how to turn off all utilities (gas, electric and water), we know how to contact team members in other (non-affected) areas, we know how to report on our status and needs, and we are mentally prepared for the psychological stress that is placed on us, our families and neighbors during a disaster.

#2: We are prepared to respond to a call for help -- either from the Town leaders or from our neighbors. What a great feeling - to know that people look up to you for help and for the benefit of your training! WOW! Our team has had numerous calls for help during times of emergency events (Who can forget the October Blizzard a few years ago?). We have had so many activations for emergency responses it would take the entire newsletter to list them all. Suffice it to say we have had a lot of requests for assistance. It has been a slow period for our team in the last six or seven months. That doesn’t mean we won’t get called out today or tomorrow. Regardless, we must keep our skills fresh and refreshed. We must keep our go kits up-to-date and ready to go at a moment’s notice. When was the last time you took your go kit completely apart, checked it out and replaced batteries, sun screen, bug repellant, and snack foods? Does your head light work? Does your GPS work? When was it last calibrated? Are your markers and pens dried out? If you can’t remember the last time you did this –it has been too long! DO IT TODAY!

#3: We volunteer for civic events. Cruisin’ on Main Street, the Thanksgiving Day Road Race, the Taste of Manchester, Vernon’s “Fire in the Sky” fireworks display, the Lutz Museum’s Farm Fun Day event and many smaller scope events. These civic events benefit our team in so many different ways I can’t list them all. Some of the largest benefits we receive by doing these events are: we build team unity, we keep our skill sets fresh, and we work with other CERT teams so we know their faces and abilities. (You never want to exchange business cards or phone numbers at an emergency event!). Probably the biggest benefit we receive is the gratitude of a grateful Town. (You can’t put a dollar value on this type of positive public relations)! One additional huge benefit of volunteering, as a team, for a civic event is we keep our entire team active! A CERT team’s biggest enemy is in-activity.

If you have a request for some training or refresher training, please contact CERT Training Director Pete Beckwith with your ideas for training or requests for specific training (such as fire extinguisher refreshed, CPR/ first aid refresher, shelter operations refresher, the list goes on and on). We can’t think of everything to train on – Pete needs your input.

Don J.

September/October, 2014Issue No. 35

From the Executive Committee

Manchester, Connecticut CERT operates under the direction of the Town of Manchester Emergency Management Agency.

Executive Committee

Manchester’s Community Emergency Response Team

1

Newsletter TeamJerry BujauciusEditor

Matt CostaGraphic Design

Al BelandPeter BeckwithKaren ClaingRich ClaingFrancene DianaAnita GillespieHolly JacobsDon JanelleBruce KramerChris MarvinMike PollackBill PringleDanielle SaffiottiScott Somes Jim ToddPete VernesoniAl WilliamsKathy Wilson

The 7th Annual Connecticut Citizen Corps Conference will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2014 at the Water’s Edge Resort in Westbrook, CT. The theme of this year’s conference will be “The Citizen Responder - Making Our Communities Stronger.” The keynote feature speaker will be Jeff Bauman, the face of the Boston Marathon Terrorist Bombing, and the author of the book “Stronger.” You will be able to hear Jeff speak on his experiences, his continuing recovery and how his life was suddenly changed. His story is dramatic, heart-warming and inspiring.

In addition to the general morning session, separate afternoon sessions for CERT and the Medical Reserve Corps attendees are planned. The conference is recommended for any MRC or CERT team member, elected officials, leaders of sponsoring governmental agencies and anyone interested in starting or joining one of our volunteer organizations.

The planning committee is hard at work making this a great one-day conference. Once again, there is no registration fee this year. Thanks go out to the many sponsors: Connecticut Light and Power, the Connecticut Emergency Management Association, the Metropolitan Medical Response System, New Britain Emergency Medical Services and a Medical Reserve Training Grant (thru Yale University).

To follow Connecticut Citizen Corps activities across the state, go to www.twitter.com/ctcitizencorps.

-- OR --Follow via phone text message by going to Twitter’s phone number 40404

and sending the text message “follow @ ctcitizencorps”

The State Citizen Corps Website is located at www.ct.gov/demhs/.Click on Citizen Corps Advisory Council/CERT/MRC in left hand column.

September/October, 2014

7th Annual Connecticut Citizen Corps ConferenceOctober 16, 2014

2

September/October, 20143

My Cruisin’ 2014 Experience(Behind The Scenes)

Submitted by Jim Todd

Before I relate this neat little story about this year’s Cruisin’ On Main Street event, I want to thank Holly for the coordination effort she did for all the volunteers working this event. That was a tall task for a women we can all look up to. BTW, “women” was a Freudian slip as I was thinking Holly did the work of ten people that day.

My assignment for the day was Side Street Monitor at School St. with Dave Bidwell in the morning and Dave Cannel in the afternoon.

In the morning Dave B. and I stationed ourselves across from the lot that was reserved for Handicapped parking on the sidewalk by the Bennet Recreation Center Building. It was a good place to redirect show cars that came down School St. instead of Wells St., apparently confused by the signage. The parking lot was a good place to loop around and go back.

It was around 10:30 am and we were considering moving down to Main St. when an elderly couple came walking down the street with their folding chairs. They had parked in the next lot up the street, on the other side of the old fire house where we keep CP6. They realized they could take advantage of this closer parking lot. So the woman unfolded her chair and sat down at this parking lot to wait for her husband to bring their car closer.

After waiting quite awhile, the woman came across the street and told us that her husband had gone up the street to get their car and should be back by now. She said that he is 94 years old and was worried about him. Without hesitating, Dave asked what their car looked like and went to the other parking lot to look for him. Soon Dave came back and said he is OK. Dave told the gentleman that his wife had been waiting for him and was worried about him. Evidently he was talking to someone about old cars, and would be here shortly.

In the meantime, Dave brought their chairs over and set them up where we were – in the shade by the building. Soon we were in a conversation. She mentioned that she was saddened by the passing of Butch Gordon, that he lived on the same street and often chatted with her husband. When her husband got there, we offered to set his chair up and have a seat. His wife laughed and said he might not be able to get back up, but he took us up on the offer and we went on to talk some more about old cars.

Soon they were on their feet and ready to go on down to Main St. We shook hands and thanked each other for the conversation we had.

Jim Todd, WB1GIE

P.S. I did not get a chance to take photos this year. However, I thought the T-shirt was cool. The ’55 Chevy came out when I was a junior in high school. A few years later, I was best man for my cousin when he got married and drove him to the church in his “55 Chevy.

BTW, I was able to capture the “best car in show” with this photo.

4 September/October, 2014

CERT TipWhat is Social Engineering?

Social engineering is a type of security attack where scammers trick people into giving them access to their own sensitive personal information. Social engineers have the same goal as hackers, but they focus on tricking people rather than breaking into networks. Phishing emails are one tactic used by these scammers. Phishing can be thought of as “phony fishing” – as in fishing around to get your personal information. Don’t fall for it! Phone calls can also be used. A scammer will call under a false identity and try to establish a level of credibility. Ultimately, the caller requests sensitive or confidential information. Physical visits can also be used. The scammer will visit a location using a false identity. All of these attacks attempt to gain access to files, the network or other sensitive information or infrastructure. Even the smallest bit of information can be used. To help protect yourself, please keep the following in mind:

Social engineers attempt to establish a level of authority or build a level of trust •before digging for too much information. They are likely to use company lingo or provide details that seem to verify their claimed identity.

Social engineers make you think you need to act quickly in order to secure an offer, •assist someone or prevent a problem.

Social engineers will use any communication medium that is popular, including email, •social networks, chat, or phone calls.

Social engineers often attack multiple people or different family members and •combine information.

Social engineers sometimes stage a “fight” or other stressful encounter to encourage •bystanders to back away. A very common tactic is to claim they are with the IRS or law enforcement and you may be subject to arrest.

Social engineers will engage with targets through social media and chat to build a •relationship.

September/October, 20145

Who is CERT ?

Submitted by Don Janelle

The Community Emergency Response Team or CERT for short is made up of people from many different walks of life and many various life experiences. I started to think of all the different folks we have had on our team, where they came from, what they did as a profession, and why they even decided to join a CERT team. What I found out was quite astonishing and impressive!

Some people who are unaware of or uneducated about CERT have no idea of who we are, what we do or why we do it. Some people “on the outside” even look down on CERT members. Their opinion is that CERT members are beneath them and only the dregs of society join a CERT team. NOTHING could be further from the truth! As a matter of fact, most members of CERT teams have extremely impressive credentials.

Many members of our team either possess or have possessed the federal Government’s “Top Secret” security clearance. That is impressive! Some of our team members actually have patents on file with the U.S. Patent office. I have lost count of the number of practicing attorneys and doctors we have on our team. We have many retired high ranking officers from most of the US military branches. We also have electrical and mechanical engineers, nurses, pharmacists, the list goes on and on. We have retirees, college students, newlyweds, and grandparents. Age or physical impairment is never a problem for us at CERT as we always try to ensure that no one is asked to do more than they can handle. But, and this is most important, no one thinks they are better than anyone else.

So, why do people join CERT? There are many reasons. Some join to be part of a group of people interested in helping out during an emergency. Some have a finite number of hours to devote to “Giving back to the community” and CERT is their choice of how to give back. Some like the feeling of lending a hand to people who cannot fend for themselves. Some like the camaraderie of the CERT team. Some actually like the adrenaline rush they get when the call goes out for team activation. Some have other personal reasons that they would rather keep to themselves. It doesn’t matter why they join a CERT team. What matters is that they actually step forward and join.

Regardless of the reason, CERT team members should be proud of their service to the community. NEVER, NEVER hang your head when some ignorant person makes a comment disparaging our CERT team. Instead, you should pity them for their ignorance or arrogance.

If you are reading this and you are a CERT member – thank you! If you are reading this and you are not a CERT member – ask yourself, why not? Maybe it is time to join.

September/October, 20146

If an emergency occurred tomorrow, would you be ready?

September is National Preparedness Month. Sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the goal of National Preparedness Month is to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks.

National Preparedness Month is a time to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters, both large scale and smaller local events. Emergencies can happen unexpectedly in any community - tornados, flash floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, even water main breaks and power outages that impact communities for days at a time.

As commendable as they may be in their profession of assisting those in need, police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach people quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care for at least a short period of time following an incident; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover.

You are not helpless in the face of an emergency. With just a few simple steps, you can Be a Force of Nature by knowing your risk, taking action and being an example in your community.

Know your risk: Emergencies can happen anywhere, at any time. It is important to understand potential risks where you live. What you can do:

Bookmark weather.gov to stay informed on severe weather.1.

Learn about Wireless Emergency Alerts, messages that will be sent to your phone during an emergency.2.

Get practical tips on preparing for disaster at ready.gov.3.

Take action: Make sure that you and your family are prepared for an emergency. Ensure that you can go for at least three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or other local services. What you can do:

Prepare a disaster supply kit with at least three days of food and water.1.

Create a Family Emergency Plan, so that your family knows how to communicate during an emergency.2.

Obtain a NOAA Weather Radio.3.

Continued on page 7

September/October, 20147

If an emergency occurred tomorrow, would you be ready?Continued from page 6

Be an example: Be a positive influence on your community by sharing your preparedness story. Let your friends and family know that you’re prepared for an emergency – and that they should be prepared too. Research has shown that many people won’t prepare until they see others doing so. What you can do:

Share your preparedness story on Facebook so that friends and family will know what you’ll do in 1. case of disaster.

Tell the world you’re prepared on Twitter using hashtag #NATLPREP.2.

Get involved with your local American Red Cross Chapter3. or train with a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

You never know when an emergency might occur. Always be prepared for the worst!

During National Preparedness Month take action by planning a National PrepareAthon! Day on or around September 30th. You can use digital media tools

as a way to promote National Preparedness Month.

What you can do to promote National Preparedness Month:

Check out the • How to Get Involved in NPM Quick Guide

Download the • 2014 National Preparedness Month Digital Engagement Toolkit

Share NPM messages on Social Media•

View and share the new • Ready Campaign Public Service Announcements

Join the National Preparedness Community and • download the high resolution NPM logo

Promote NPM by updating your • Facebook and Twitter cover photo and profile image

Register for National PrepareAthon! Day: • www.ready.gov/prepare

September/October, 20148

Submitted by Jim Todd

Many thanks to Paul and Ginny for hosting our CERT picnic at their Misquamicut beach home. Their home looks beautiful again and made for a really enjoyable time for all.

When Sandy and I arrived, Paul already had the corn roasting on the grill. Folks were enjoying conversations in lawn chairs under the shade of tent awnings that Don and Rich brought down and set up. As always the food was great and there was plenty of it. Besides the roasted corn, hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages Paul and Ginny set up, folks brought their favorite salads, meat balls, kielbasa, and desserts.

Before we got started on that real food, Don wanted to make sure our home emergency provision kits were stocked. He brought left over MRE’s from storm Alfred and distributed them for those willing to take a chance. In case you don’t know what an MRE is, it is a Meal-Ready-to-Eat with heaters. These are “fresh” meals with flameless heaters (menus may vary) and have at least a 5 year shelf life. Yum Yum! I’m sure Don meant well and didn’t want to ruin our appetites, so he opened up a couple of the meals and offered them up as appetizers. I tried the pepperoni cheese crackers that were in the shape of mini compressed wood pellets that you might use in your wood stove this winter. I took my MRE out to the car out of sight. It will be stored in my emergency provision kit at home but I hope I never have to use it. Thanks, Don!

Bob Kovach and his wife arrived with their three girls and their 6 month baby boy. Greg Vinci and his wife, Renee and her 94 year old mother, came. Then Pete Vernesoni arrived with his two granddaughters. Dave Cannell and his friend, Jolene came with two kayaks. You can see this was a family picnic and multi-generational as well.

Bob was in a conversation and not listening to his daughters pleading to go play down by the water and make sand castles. So Greg’s wife went with them to get them started. Then Grampa Jim offered some help. I grabbed one of their pails and started for the edge of the water. No, No, the youngest daughter said, you can’t use that pail. Why, I asked. She said it has a hole in the bottom. Sure enough, but we found something to carry water to make the sand wet.

Greg’s mother-in-law kept sight of the little ones at the water’s edge and had the six month old in his stroller next to her. It was that motherly instinct. When she left her seat to go inside for a bit, she told Sandy sitting near her to “Watch those kids till I get back”.

Dave was soon giving kayak rides and kids were getting in the water.

A highlight of the day came when Greg presented Pete Vernesoni the CERT award of the year.

The weather was great, too. Thanks again to Paul and Ginny and to all who came and made it fun.

CERT Family Picnic 2014

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