Hanover County is preparing citizens to respond to emergencies in their communities by training them as a Community Emergency Response Team (“CERT”). Ten (10) citizens recently graduated from the 14th Hanover County CERT class.

Graduates of the most recent CERT training class were Chris Austin, Laverne Branch, Kimberly King, Steve Mergy, Sean Pyne, Carolyn Velletri and Richard Velletri.

These citizens completed five sessions that covered various aspects of preparation for a disaster in their community, including providing medical assistance to victims, light search and rescue operations and disaster psychology and team organization. Classes are taught by Hanover Fire/EMS and other agencies that are active in emergency preparedness.

The next CERT training class is tentatively expected to be held in the spring. For more information about future CERT classes, please e-mail [email protected]