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ROME -- The Salvation Army will offer emergency disaster training in Rome on Saturday, Nov. 7, and Saturday, Nov. 14, announced Maj. Leonard Boynton, local director.
"Introduction to Emergency Disaster Services (EDS)" will run from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 7, and "Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS)" will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 14. Both classes will be held at The Salvation Army, 410 West Dominick Street.
The courses are free, and open to anyone who registers in advance -- by Oct. 30 for the EDS class and by Nov. 6 for the ICS class. Materials and lunch will be provided. To register, contact the Rome Salvation Army at 315-336-4260, or go online to RedKettles.org.
"This training is the first step for people who would like to become part of an Emergency Disaster Services team, ready to help their local community or even in a disaster elsewhere," noted Leslie Vattimo, certified instructor and director of disaster services for The Salvation Army's Empire State Division. Volunteers completing the training can become certified in Emergency Disaster Services and receive a Salvation Army photo ID, she said.
For example, she said, EDS teams from different parts of the state responded to the flooding around the Western New York community of Gowanda in August. They set up a disaster center providing supplies, ran a food preparation center serving three meals a day to flood victims and rescue workers, and staffed three mobile disaster canteens roaming through hardest hit areas to bring food and supplies. The Salvation Army disaster volunteers provided over one million bottles of water and served over 40,000 meals there, she said, plus offered emotional and spiritual support.
In the introductory course, "participants will learn about The Salvation Army, its mission, how it operates in disaster situations, how they would fit in and what would be expected of them, including how they can best prepare and equip themselves for disaster relief," Vattimo said. The ICS class provides a general orientation to The Salvation Army Incident Command System at a disaster site. "Participants learn how ICS is used to command, control and coordinate disaster relief operations, including interfacing with government and non-government agencies also responding to a disaster," she said.
Because of its "everyday presence in communities across the country," Vattimo said, "The Salvation Army is often among the first to provide assistance when disaster strikes."
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