Sydney Teitelbaum lost his wife six months ago, so, to fill his time productively, he signed up for one of the first Community Emergency Response Team classes offered by Palm Beach County.
"It keeps me busy," he said.
That's what Sydney, dressed in shorts and a white golf shirt festooned with COP emblems, and 24 other eager volunteers were doing in a classroom at the Hochman Jewish Community Center west of Boynton Beach on a recent Tuesday night.
This was a makeup class for Sydney, who's a training officer for another volunteer program called the Rovers, part of the Citizen Observer Patrol, or COP, program.
But it was the first of eight classes for the others, most of whom had been recruited by Steve Bayer in Majestic Isles, an active adult community west of Boynton Beach.
Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach have CERT programs, but the county's Division of Emergency Management teamed up with Palm Beach Community College in February to offer the course. Some classes are taught at Hochman and other locales, some at the college, and some inside the gated communities, said Liz Carracher, from the college. She welcomed the students and handed out registration forms.
Classes are scheduled at Palm Isles and Platina west of Boynton Beach and Villa Borghese west of Delray Beach, she said.
Some 130 CERT volunteers have been trained so far through the county classes, said Brian Hanley, Palm Beach County Emergency Management coordinator.
The course costs $75, but the county and college have been able to cobble together enough scholarship and grant money to comp the volunteers so far, Carracher said.
"I'm surprised by the level of enthusiasm," she said.
This particular class was mostly men and nearly all retirees -- former engineers, salespeople and firefighters. But Larry Gerito, one of the two instructors and a veteran of the CERT program in Florida since its inception in the mid-1990s, said the great thing about it is that you can be any age and get involved.
CERT was started nationally in Los Angeles after the Mexico City earthquake in 1985. That was a wakeup call after 100 well-meaning volunteers were killed during the rescue effort, Gerito said. Until then, first responders were wary of mobilizing civilians for disaster relief, fearing they would get in the way, he said.
The feds eventually standardized the program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and expanded it to cover more than earthquakes, Hanley said.
Florida "really picked up on it," he added.
After the 9-11 attacks, ironically his birthday, a terrorism component has been added to the course, and there's even a separate handbook.
The CERT course is designed "to train you and give you the skills to maintain a reasonable degree of order until emergency response gets there," said Rick Lee, the other instructor. Sometimes that can be days.
"Almost nobody in this country thinks of what to do if fire and emergency services can't get there," Lee told the group.
Before Hurricane Andrew, "most people in Florida thought CERT was a breath mint," he said.
CERT teaches people they have a responsibility to themselves and their family first, their neighbor second and their community third.
It's prudent for the boards of homeowners and condo associations to use CERT training and teams as a start to develop their emergency disaster plan in the community, whether it's gated or not, Hanley said.
"Once you risk yourself, you become part of the problem, not the solution," he said.
To inquire about a CERT course, call Palm Beach Community College at 561-868-3774.
