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American Safety And Health Institute To Partner With Citizen Corps In Promoting Emergency Preparedness And Volunteerism In Localities Across The Nation
Release Date: March 4, 2004
(ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) C. Suzanne Mencer, Director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness within the Department of Homeland Security, today announced an official affiliate partnership between the American Safety and Health Institute (ASHI) and Citizen Corps, the Department's nationwide grass roots movement to actively involve everyone in America in making out community and our nation safer, stronger, and better prepared for emergencies.
Through this affiliation, ASHI will USE their 30,000 professional safety training educators, thousands of ASHI student volunteers, and 1,000 Citizen Corps Councils at the state and local levels to implement strategies of emergency preparedness and provide local support to emergency responders.
ASHI trains approximately one million-plus students each year in its life-saving training programs. Working with Citizen Corps, ASHI will encourage these trainees to help implement local Citizen Corps programs and to volunteer for local Citizen Corps Councils. They will learn to utilize their ASHI training in life-saving and safety skills to help others be prepared and to be effective in a crisis situation.
"We all have a role to play in preparing our communities for the potential challenges in our future," says Gregg Rich, chair of the board of directors for ASHI. "The alliance between Citizen Corps and ASHI will help everyday citizens to better define their role in their own communities, and, in turn, help Citizen Corps to fulfill its mission to make communities safer, stronger and better prepared by helping to recruit a strong support network of trained volunteers."
Citizen Corps provides local opportunities for everyone to become trained in emergency-related safety skills and to participate in homeland security and community/family preparedness through public education and outreach, training opportunities, and volunteer programs to support local first responders. Through a vast nationwide network of Citizen Corps Councils, the organization brings together the homeland security expertise of emergency responders with the energy and spirit of volunteer programs, the private sector and other community stakeholders to engage the whole community.
C. Suzanne Mencer, director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness, said, "secretary Ridge has made it a priority to engage all citizens in getting prepared and involved in hometown security. Partnering with ASHI will extend Citizen Corps' network of national affiliates and provide valuable opportunities for thousands of trained students to answer our call to action and help keep our hometowns secure from all hazards."
In addition to the four charter Citizen Corps Programs, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), Medical Reserve Corps, Neighborhood Watch, Volunteers in Police Service, and the Department's citizen preparedness Ready campaign, Citizen Corps has also partnered with 15 affiliate programs to help coordinate a range of opportunities in which citizens can participate. "The American Safety & Health Institute is a natural addition to our support network," adds Mencer.
As a vital component of USA Freedom Corps, Citizen Corps encourages citizens of America to answer the President's "call to service" and take an active role in building safer, stronger and better-prepared communities. To find out more about Citizen Corps and to find a local Council nearest you, please visit www.citizencorps.gov.
ASHI is a not for profit association of professional safety & health educators focusing on excellence in education in the areas of CPR, AED, First Aid, workplace safety/disaster preparedness, rescue and wilderness survival skills, among others, while successfully targeting all areas of safety and health, helping to educate the lay public and emergency service professionals alike. To learn more about ASHI's programs, visit www.ashinstitute.org.