January 2023 meeting

Suicide and Mental health

Our next CERT meeting will be Thursday, January 26 in the Holmes Meeting Room at the Chatham Community Library (Pittsboro), beginning at 7pm.

The January agenda will include a presentation and panel discussion on suicide and mental health. After the holidays there is always an uptick in suicides and we need to be able to recognize the potential symptoms and have techniques to help others cope. How can one help? What should be your first response  to a friend, colleague, or family member? Also, this will be our annual administrative meeting. Please attend!

Winter weather tips.

Be prepared for our North Carolina winter weather. While we don’t ever plan on feet of snow like upstate New York, we can expect cold temperatures, freezing rain, ice, and snow. From FEMA and others, here are some tips:

– Check your vehicles: test your battery (power drops as the temperature drops); check your tire tread and tire pressure; check your wiper blades and replace if necessary; add wiper fluid rated to at least 30º; keep your gas tank at least half full to avoide gas line freeze.

– Avoid using cruise control in wintry conditions.

– Accellerate and decelerate slowly.

– Increase following distances in bad weather.

– Winterize your home: clear gutters, repair roof leaks, cut away tree branches that could fall on your house. Check your insulation and replace if necessary. Caulk windows and put on storm windows or plastic sheeting. Have your heating equipment and chimney maintained each year.

– Have equipment to clear snow and ice. Clear areas around your home to allow drainage away from the foundation.

– Keep fire extinguishers on hand, but don’t try to fight a large fire.

While no time is a good time to have an emergency, if one occurs during the holidays it can have an even greater emotional impact.  So make sure you’re as ready as you can be!  Who knows, your few minutes of preparation may turn a catastrophe into a mere inconvenience.

Some other things you may consider checking on:

– Generator:

– Is there sufficient fuel for several days, and is it fresh?

– Can you (easily) start it, or does it need service?

– Does it have lubrication, and do you have any (fresh) on hand if you need to run it for an extended period?

– How old are the batteries in your bug-out bag?  Junk drawer?

– Is everything good in your first aid kit?  No medications that are out-of-date or dried up?  Bandages still flexible and good-to-use?

– Plans

– Communication plan if something happens while folks are away from the house?

– Communication plan to coordinate with someone out-of-state if local coms go down?

– Any new considerations since your family discussed evacuation vs shelter-in-place plans?

Stay safe and we’ll see everyone in January.

Chatham CERT Newsletter January 2021


January CERT meeting

Our January 2021 CERT meeting is a bit different this time: instead of a Chatham CERT meeting, please attend the all-North Carolina-CERT-volunteer virtual meeting on January 28 (Thursday) starting at 6:30 PM (18:30).  Below is the login link. Password is CERT. See you there.https://ncdps.webex.com/ncdps/j.php?MTID=mb2bb08110f784a737a1775fdb016ce42

We will have our next Chatham CERT meeting on February 24, 2021.


Covid vaccination update
CERT has been asked to provide volunteers at the upcoming covid-19 vaccination events in Chatham County. As the availability of vaccine increases, we expect to see some large vaccination events at the Ag Center and at Bray Park in Siler City. 

If you have not already emailed us with your interest in helping with the mass vaccination events, please send an email tocovidvolunteer@chathamcert.organd we will add you to the potential volunteer list. We need general support from the CERT volunteers. For those with current medical training, if you wish to volunteer please send an email with your qualifications and your name will get passed to the appropriate authorities. Chatham CERT is coordinating any non-medical volunteers interested in helping at the mass vaccination events, whether CERT members or not.

New Chatham CERT equipment
Chatham County Emergency Management has a new emergency trailer, popup tents, and other new equipment. Look for a work party / training day sometime this spring to learn about the new gear and help put the trailer in working order.

Amateur radio repeater

Previously announced, but good information. There is a new 2-meter amateur (ham) radio repeater in Chatham County, located on Fire Tower Road. For you amateur radio operators, you can find it at the below location. Use so far shows extremely clear and extensive coverage across most of the county.

Name: CCAUXR2
Frequency: 145.230
Duplex: –
Offset: 0.6
Tone: 107.2

Need CERT gear?

ProPac has a discount for CERT Volunteers. If you decide to order something, call ProPac at (800) 345-3036 and mention ‘NCA’, the National CERT Association for a 5% discount on CERT products. This is not an endorsement of Propac; they may or may not have competitive prices on preparedness or CERT gear.

 Interested in being a CERT member?
Learn more about Chatham CERT at this link. Thanks for your interest, and remember our motto: Don’t Be A Victim.

CERT Volunteers Needed

Chatham County will soon begin offering wide-spread coronavirus vaccination by drive-up clinics. Chatham CERT will be asked to assist in the vaccination efforts – primarily through vehicle and individual traffic direction, assisting healthcare staff, providing information and answering questions, and observing individuals for the 15-20 minutes after getting their injection. While the schedule has not been announced, I expect this will begin in March 2021 and will continue for some time.

We need your help! Please send an email with your name, email address, and cell phone number to ExComm@groups.io if you can volunteer for one or more days of the vaccination clinics. 

Need a coronavirus vaccination and fall into a lower priority group? Volunteer to assist CERT with county-wide vaccinations and you can be placed into group 1b (frontline essential workers)

March CERT cancellations

The CERT Basic Training Course previously scheduled for March 21 and 22 has been cancelled. There will be a new online training course announced in the next few days.

The planned monthly CERT meeting on March 25, 2020 is cancelled and will not be rescheduled. Updates to CERT meetings will be posted on the Chatham Chatlist, emailed to CERT team members, and updated on our CERT website at https://www.chathamcert.org.