| VERMONT
STATE
CITIZEN CORPS COUNCIL
ORGANIZATIONS
Citizen
Corps
The
Vermont State Citizen Corps Council has been established within
our State Emergency Response Commission. This council is comprised
of representatives from the Fire Service, Law Enforcement,
Industry, Emergency Medical Services, American Red Cross and
citizens. Each month the State Citizens Corp Council receives
presentations on the current CERT programs, future funding,
recent deployments and program updates. Since the SERC serves
in an advisory capacity to Vermont Local Emergency Planning
Committees (LEPC), the commission addresses many of the statewide
policy concerns such as a universal identification system
or liability insurance concerns for Citizen Corp. organizations.
Vermont
Local Citizen Corps Councils – In the initial stages
of development of Citizen Corps Councils, the best strategy
in Vermont was to call upon the existing committee structures
within our state to develop the Citizens Corp. programs. Since
Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPC) were already in
existence, it made sense to use these structures to create
the local Citizen Corp. Councils. The CERT program in particular
has been and continues to be an excellent investment of the
LEPC time and resources. To capitalize on this investment,
the LEPCs view CERT members as a volunteer resource that can
assist with public safety activities. Such an approach will
actively involve members in serving their communities beyond
disaster response and add value to the CERT program. Future
Citizen Corps programs are being considered.
CERT
Vermont
Emergency Management is currently sub granting third round
DHS Citizens Corp. funding. With 12 Citizen Corps Councils
developing CERT programs, many Vermonters are now finding
a way to better serve their communities. Over the past year,
several CERT teams were activated to assist emergency services
with public events and disasters. Since the beginning of the
program we now have over 200 CERT members and 30 instructors
statewide. At the State level, CERT programs are supported
through a statewide email network that provides updates and
alert information. Additionally, a CERT assistant coordinator
has been selected and will begin working with local councils
this spring. Further guidance is provided by way of a small
advisory council ofCERT members which meets regularly to develop
future direction for the statewide CERT program. A statewide
CERT database has also been established for training, mailings
and notifications and CERT teams are now supported through
a dedicated web site at www.vtcert.org.
Northern
New England Emergency Medical Response Team (MMRS) Project
The
State has engaged in a partnership with Dartmouth College
in New Hampshire to build a tri-state MMRS (Metropolitan Medical
Response System). The Department of Homeland Security has
issued a grant to Dartmouth to engage in a pilot project involving
three rural states to develop a medical response consortium
that mirrors a DMAT style team. Each state has a “Medical
Strike Team” that involves professional volunteers with
specific training including physicians, toxicologists, critical
care nurses, paramedics, and EMTs with specialized WMD and
hazmat training. These professional volunteers will be deployable
under each State’s emergency management agency guidelines
as well as in the regions. Vermont is currently developing
the infrastructure and identifying the key VT MMRS team members.
The need for this type of team for Vermont, Maine, and New
Hampshire is due to the international borders and unsecured
coastline as well as the proximity to Boston and New York
City. The MMRS initiatives will be closely coordinated with
MRC development.
Future Citizens Corp Initiatives
With
the future funding Vermont will work with LEPCs to develop
further program and initiatives of the Citizen’s Corp.
Program.
Updated
February 2005
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VERMONT
OVERVIEW
· Eight county Councils serving 469,834 citizens (77%
of Total State Population)
CITIZEN CORPS COUNCILS
Counties
· Addison County Citizen Corps Council
· Chittenden County Citizen Corps Council
· Citizen Corps Council of Grand Isle
· Franklin County Citizen Corps
· LEPC #12 Citizens Corp. Council
· LEPC 9 Citizen Corps
· Lamoille County Citizen Corps Council
· Orleans and Northern Essex Counties Citizens Corps
Council
FUNDING
FY05
· $136,000
· Citizen Corps funding through DHS/ODP
FY04
· $353,000
· Citizen Corps funding through DHS/ODP
FY03
· $190,900
· CERT funding through FEMA; no FY03 appropriations
for Citizen Corps
FY02
· $40,684 Citizen Corps funding through FEMA
· $172,908 CERT funding through FEMA
STATE POC
Robert Schell
Chair, State Emergency Response Commission
Vermont Dept. of Public Safety
103 South Main Street
Waterbury, VT 05467
(802) 244-8721
rschell@dps.state.vt.us
PROGRAM
PARTNERS IN VERMONT
CERT
·
11 Active Community Emergency Response Teams listed in the
CERT directory
VIPS
·
1 Volunteers in Police Service program
Neighborhood
Watch
·
22 Registered Neighborhood Watch groups serve their communities
in 12 different law enforcement jurisdictions
Medical
Reserve Corps
· 1 Medical Reserve Corps unit
Fire
Corps
· No registered Fire Corps programs established since
national launch in December 2004
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