Community Emergency Response Team

At the May Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) safety meeting, 40 residents learned how to prepare for a power outage and how an outage could affect the Leisure World community.

CERT President Catherine O’Brien did a great presentation on how to stay safe when a power outage threatens a person’s safety. People are highly encouraged to have emergency lights, which stay plugged in and go on when the power goes out. The greatest danger in a power outage is falling, especially in the dark. Therefore, it is a necessary to have a reliable source of light available in case a person must to get up in the middle of the night.

Other practical tips included: always have flashlights and batteries on hand in each room, keep freezers and refrigerators closed, disconnect appliances and electronics to avoid damage from electrical surges and use alternate plans for refrigerating medicines or power-dependent medical devices.

The first hour of the group’s monthly safety meeting is open to all residents. These meetings will now include a drawing to give away a safety item. This month’s winner was Alice Chung.

The LW CERT group wants to give a special shout-out to thank the LW Women’s Club for giving the group a generous donation, which will be used to buy safety items as giveaways. CERT will meet Friday, June 23.

—Jan Friedland

CERT President Catherine O'Brien (l) presents Alice Chung with a raffl e prize. The club has begun to raffl e safety items during each meeting.