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Parkway South High hosts first teen disaster preparedness program

By Diane Plattner

Parkway South High School recently became the first area school to offer Teen Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) training, which teaches students lifelong skills that enable them to help the community in crisis situations.

Approximately 30 Parkway South High freshman and sophomore students attended three Teen CERT sessions - held April 14, May 1 and May 3 - at their school in Manchester.

Implemented by the West County EMS and Fire Protection District, in cooperation with the Gateway Citizens’ Corps, Teen CERT is a national training initiative that prepares youth to “mitigate, prepare, respond and recover” from a disaster that may happen at their school or home, officials said. They said the program is designed to teach them to help themselves, their families and their school in the event of a disaster.

“It is evident that our citizens, some of whom are not yet adults, will be the first to arrive at any disaster,” West County EMS and Fire Chief Dave Frazier said. “Disaster may strike at home, at school, on the roadways, anywhere.”

Officials said Teen CERT training is designed to cover disaster preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations, triage, life-threatening injuries treatments, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, terrorism, 9-1-1 communications, hazardous materials and responder roles.

“These skills can be used to help other students as well should an incident occur on campus,” Parkway South High Principal Gary Mazzola said.

Mazzola said students were selected for the program based on recommendations from teachers, coaches and club sponsors for their leadership abilities, work ethic and interest in the program. Freshmen and sophomores were chosen because they will remain for two to three more years, providing school officials with the opportunity to train additional students prior to their graduation, Mazzola said.

“I am excited about the opportunity for our students to be trained to help us effectively respond during a crisis situation,” Mazzola said. “The skills learned from CERT training stay with the kids for life. They are just as likely to be utilized at home or in the community, and the lessons learned will help develop leadership at South High in other areas of our school community. It would be very difficult for us to replicate the quality of the curriculum and the expertise of the instructors in one of our classrooms.”

Parkway South High sophomore Manju Johny agreed.

“I enjoyed the activities because they were activity based and relied less on lecturing to learn the material,” Johny said. “I feel that I will be able to contribute to the school and the community with the ability to help people during a crisis.”

South High freshman Laura Van Genderen said she was proud to participate in the program.

“It is a great feeling to know that they trust students enough and not just adults to help during an emergency,” Van Genderen said. “After the recent earthquake and the aftershocks, it made the training even more relevant and important to me.”

Van Genderen also said she believes the training lends greater security for the future.

“The training gave me a greater sense of security because it helps prepare the average citizen to know how to respond in an emergency situation,” Van Genderen said. “It is good to know that there will be additional people prepared to respond and I could be one of the people providing assistance.”

Kim Bacon, West County EMS and Fire community liaison officer, said the students absorbed the information quickly and seemed interested in the program.

“Concerning preparedness and medical ops, the kids exceeded our expectations in terms of comprehension and interest,” Bacon said.

Bacon said the success of the Parkway South program, which is funded through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, is sparking their interest in its expansion in the St. Louis area.

“With the success of the Parkway South program, we are now looking for other high schools in the area that would want to start a Teen CERT program for their students,” Bacon said.