CERT team hones rescue skills

MANALAPAN- On a cold, windy Februarymorning theManalapanMedical Reserves Corps - Community Emergency Response Team (MRC-CERT) mustered 11 of its members and four Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) team members to exercise its search and rescue abilities.

For three hours these members searched acres of property at the Quail Hill Scout Reservation on La Valley Drive for a "lost" person. Ultimately, the lost person was found, "suffering" with injuries and exposure. The person was then successfully carried for more than a half-mile through the wooded hills of the Scout reservation to where he would have been transferred to emergency service vehicles.

"Unfortunately, we hear toomany times of a missing child or a person with dementia wandering away and becoming lost," said Kim Silverstein, coordinator of ManalapanMRC CERT. "CERT teams throughout the county and state have become an important quick personnel resource to search for these persons until more sophisticated and highly trained state teams become available."

According to a press release, the search and rescue exercise wasmanaged with support from the Manalapan Office of Emergency Management, the Manalapan Police Department, theManalapan Fire Company No. 1, Millhurst, and the local ARES team.

The Manalapan MRC-CERT was formed in 2002 and numbersmore than 180 members.

Its core mission is to support the Manalapan emergency services agencies during emergencies. It is also active in assisting with public health activities in the township. The ARES team consists of licensed amateur radio (ham radio) operators who avail themselves for service during emergency conditions.