Get Involved

It takes a whole community working together to recover from disaster. Having some basic training and skills before a disaster strikes can help you take the necessary actions to help yourself, your loved ones, and even nearby strangers until professional responders arrive.

Volunteer opportunities include:

• Community Emergency Response Teams (see information below)
• Fire Corps
• Medical Reserve Corps of Kansas City

For more volunteer opportunities in your neighborhood, contact your local emergency manager.

CERT training takes about 20 to 24 hours to complete, and includes topics such as disaster preparedness, fire safety, triage and treatment of life-threatening injuries, light search and rescue, team organization, disaster psychology and terrorism.

Fourteen CERTs currently operate in the eight-county, bistate region — four on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area and 10 in Missouri. For more information about CERT opportunities, contact your local emergency management department or visit www.citizencorps.gov/cert.