Team,

Yesterday evening I attended a meeting in Yaphank for the Brookhaven Town CERT group. The meeting was informative and a number of topics were discussed.

Justin ran a video which depicted men climbing down into a confined space. In the video, one of the workers died due to a severe lack of oxygen.

The point of the video was to reinforce the use of the buddy system when working in hazardous or unknown conditions. From what I gather CERT people do not use radio equipment since there was no mention of it during or after the video.

Tracy was recently elected as VP of Division 5 and spoke about the improvements that are already underway during her watch as VP.

Marian Russo, President of the Greater Patchogue COAD (Community Organization Active in Disaster) Team was the evening’s guest speaker. Marian spoke about all that her organization does in the communities they service.

COAD is an organization connected at the at the local, state and federal level. COAD, like ACT are not first responders. COAD members are well experienced in creating a structure or framework which is used to coordinate information and services in the community during and after man-made or natural disasters occur.

Marian and I spoke briefly and I had asked her if she would like to find out more about Amateur Radio and the ACT Team. In addition, I asked her if she would be interested in speaking at a future SCRC Club meeting.

With field day around the corner and our summer meeting hiatus, I will contact Marian in late August to schedule her presentation for a fall meeting.

Stay tuned for updates!