Gulfport Teen CERT Coming Soon

Teens between 14 and 18 are invited to learn about emergency response, communications, disaster preparedness, first aid, CPR, fire safety and more.

Bob Worthington, founder of the Gulfport Community Response Team, says they have a handful of teens that are already members of the current team. However, he says, they can only participate when they're parents are present.

The new Teen CERT program will allow teens to meet, volunteer and receive basic training under the guidance of the new Teen CERT advisor Louis Distasio.

CERT Member Louis Distasio was a volunteer firefighters for 25 years and in that time, he also served at the advisor for the Gulfport Fire Explorers program for 12 years. Distasio says he loved working with teens and is looking forward to helping a new group learn as much as they can. He says many of the kids he worked with in the past grew up and went into the medical field and even became firefighters.

In addition to receiving training, Bob Worthington says high school students may be able to earn school credits through volunteer hours. To become certified, teens will need to complete 24 hours of basic training that can be broken into three hour increments.

"There are a lot of benefits to this program. It could turn into a career for some of them," Worthington says.

Worthington says in the event of a real disaster, members of the Gulfport Teen CERT program could help with shelter operations, city government operations and inside the Gulfport Fire Department.

The new teen program could be up and running in as soon as a month. 

For more information contact Gulfport City Council Member Christine Brown at cbrown@mygulfport.us. Brown is a member of the CERT program.

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