JEFFERSON CITY — Senator Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, recognized the Mid America Teen Community Emergency Response Team, based in St. Charles County, with a resolution in honor of several national awards it received. The TEEN CERT program was recently named the No. 1 Emergency Preparedness Program and Youth Program in Missouri and No. 1 Child and Youth Emergency Preparedness Program and Outstanding Achievement in Youth Preparedness in America for 2015.

“I am honored to recognize such a valuable asset to our community,” said Sen. Onder. “The Mid America TEEN CERT provides needed training to our area youth that in turn benefits all residents of the community in the event of an emergency. I cannot say enough about the very important and necessary work Mark Rosenblum and his team perform, to the public for free.”

While the team has held the top honor for Emergency Preparedness Program and Youth Program in Missouri since 2010, this was the first year it was selected to receive the top honor in the nation for the Child and Youth Emergency Preparedness Program, having finished behind the American Red Cross the past four years. The program also received the FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award through the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2010 and was named as one of the top three emergency response and preparedness programs in the nation by the same organization. Emily Rosenblum, one of the group’s founding members, was selected to join the FEMA’s National Youth Preparedness Council as the FEMA Region VII representative and later was named the National Council Chairman, overseeing 15 representatives from the 10 FEMA regions across the nation.

The TEEN CERT program, which trains on average seven to eight classes a year, has taught nearly 1,000 teens and adults how to assist in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Students learn valuable lessons of how to manage utilities, put out small fires, provide basic medical aid, perform search and rescue techniques and collect important information to share with first responders. Several program graduates have used the skills they’ve learned to save the life of an elderly neighbor from a house fire, assist with motorcycle accidents and attend to victims with serious injuries.

Students from the program have also given back to the community through charitable endeavors, including work with the BackStoppers organization to provide medical support at several of the organization’s events. The team also participates in the Red Cross “Ready Rating” Program and the President’s Volunteer Service Award Program. In 2012, the organization founded Venturing Crew 2633, which serves as the only emergency preparedness based Venturing Program in the nation.
The program performs free training to anyone interested in taking the course.

For more information about TEEN CERT, please contact the organization’s Program Director, Mark Rosenblum at mark.rosenblum@outlook.com.