I hope the new year is treating you well. On a chilly Saturday morning in January, many of our amazing LWR CERT volunteers spent the morning at Radio Day in the Park to improve their radio skills. Our members know that the best way to prepare for a disaster is to plan and train in calm times. Are you preparing for this year’s hurricane season? This is a good time of year to look at upgrades to your home or to buy those long lead-time items (like a generator, hurricane windows, shutters or screens) that you will wish you had when a storm is headed our way.

Our CERT Basic Training class in February is full. However, we do have room for you in our May class. Is it valuable to know how to keep yourself safe in an emergency? Is it valuable to know how to protect yourself and your family from a hurricane? Is it valuable to know how to help your neighbors when first responders can’t come for hours or days because you just survived a hurricane? Check out our free Basic Training class at lwrcert.org/join.

We are excited to offer our next public education session: Stop The Bleed on March 4. See you around the neighborhood.

Jim Emanuelson (KN4VMK)

President, LWR CERT

Stop The Bleed is a national initiative to teach the public how to stop severe bleeding due to traumatic injury. The Stop The Bleed information in this 90-minute session will be led by Landes Emergency Training Services.

The session is open to all ages, and no prior experience is necessary. Join us and take the first step in becoming a lifesaver. Due to the anticipated demand, advance registration is required. Sign up below to reserve your spot today.

The LWR CERT Board announced several personnel changes for 2023.

Congratulations to Eddie Russell who has been named Vice President. In this position, he will also serve on the Executive Committee.

Eddie graduated from Basic Training in June 2021. He also currently serves as our Logistics Manager and is a member of Team 36.

Congratulations to Dave Cashbaugh for his new role as Treasurer. Dave previously served as Vice President. He remains a member of the Executive Committee.

Dave graduated from Basic Training in August 2019. He currently also serves as our Operations Manager and is a member of Team 25.

An enthusiastic group of 45 members gathered in Greenbrook Adventure Park Saturday, Jan. 14, braving the 40 degree wind chill, to participate in the first ever LWR CERT Radio Day in The Park. They sharpened their radio skills as they practiced alerting Group Leaders to assistance needed during exercise scenarios and learned the intricacies of serving as relays for their fellow members.

Thank you to all the amazing members who participated, including event organizers Dave Cashbaugh, Jim Emanuelson, Bud Goetzinger and Karen Emanuelson. Thank you, also, to our radio hubs Alan Blair and Mark Marcus for setting up temporary hubs in the park and answering all our questions. Thanks to our facilitators and group leaders Bruce Bedford, Pam Biladeau, Jan Kuhn, Mike Modisett and Kalena Ostrosky.

The first public event of 2023 was a tremendous success with Town Hall filled with LWR residents learning how to use AEDs and conduct Adult Hands-Only CPR.

We thank Ruth Landes from Landes Emergency Training Services for the AED and CPR instruction. Thank you, also, to Hilary Harter for serving as Event Manager, presenters Jill Perlin and Mike Defferding, and all the LWR CERT volunteers who made this event possible including Alan Blair, Sharon Defferding, Chuck Glazer, Pat Knowles, Jan Kuhn, Carlos Martinez, Brenda Nusbaum, Cynthia Olcott, Jordan Perlin, Nigel Pilling, Rich Raymond, Tim Sherer, Brenda Vertuca, and Valerie Voutsas.

LWR CERT has released their 2023 Public Events and Basic Training schedule. Click on the accompanying graphic, attend an upcoming public event, or visit www.lwrcert.org for details and registration information.

The February Basic Training course reached maximum capacity in December! Registration is closed. If you are interested in joining LWR CERT, visit www.lwrcert.org/join for membership details. Enrollment is already underway for the May Basic Training course.

To better reflect the emergency preparedness education and support provided to the Lakewood Ranch community, the LWR CERT Board voted to update the organization mission statement at their Jan. 16 meeting. The new mission statement is:

The mission statement has been updated on our website, and the new mission statement will be used in future publications.

Happy February birthday to members Rinita Acevedo (Team 11), Mark Boutote (Team 17), Matthew Cangemi (Team 30), Paul Catalano (Team 25), Bill Corristan (Team 2), Patricia Flinton (Team 32), Stephen Greene (Team 36), Tom Hickey (Team 32), Larry Hippich (Team 13), Murray Miller (Team 31), Bill Quaid (Team 2), Mollie Saia (Team 26), Mike Staley (Team 8), and Arline Stein (Team 28)

Shop at Smile.Amazon.com before the program ends on Feb. 20, and Amazon can donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to LWR CERT, at no cost to you.

Neighborhood Newsletter - Does your neighborhood have a newsletter? Want more neighbors on your team? LWR CERT sends special preview information to Neighborhood Newsletter editors each month, which they can include in their publications. Send your editor's name and email address to cert@lwrcert.org to have them added to our special distribution list.

Send comments, suggestions, and photos for future issues to communications@lwrcert.org