Anything could happen at any moment
A few years back this was one of my favorite sayings, my friend Eve Berlin and I used to say it all of the time but we meant it in a fun rock & roll way. You know, expect the unexpected.
These days it seems to apply in a more practical way.
When I started my coach training I was asked to make a life long commitment to learning. This is an easy commitment for me to make because I believe that staying plugged in and learning new things keeps us fresh, it’s one of the mainstays to being vibrant and young.
Every now and again I will be out somewhere and I see a flyer or a poster for a class that speaks to me. Once the flyer was for hand-to-hand combat training, I couldn’t resist the photo of the guy on the ground with the other guy standing on his neck (it spoke to me).
Recently while I was down at City hall sorting out the parking passes for my Oscar party I grabbed the flyer for disaster preparedness training, CERT www.citizencorps.gov/cert/ being a native Californian and living in the end days (joke) I figure sooner or later some kind of shit is going to hit the fan. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and I like to be the guy who makes it out alive. CERT Training spoke to me.
When I mentioned to my girlfriends what I was up too they made fun of me for being such a paranoid dork until they heard that the class was being taught by 4 firemen, all of the sudden it’s not such a bad idea, what time does that class start again?
Well, 8:00 am arrived a bit early this Saturday morning and I did NOT want to get out of bed but I am soooo happy I did because disaster training is fun and when you really think about it, it’s kinda sexy.
I really really like the way that CERT training ties in with life coaching; much of it is based on common sense and self-responsibility. Unlike coaching, where most of the sayings are a snooze, some of the CERT sayings are really great like my new trance band Walking Wounded (amazing).
I still have two more Saturdays to go and a test to pass if I want to certify but here is what I have learned so far, please note that I am a preparation freak who obsesses on earthquakes so I knew a lot of the first two hours already.
Be prepared, of course. Emergencies are unexpected but the more you can look down the road and anticipate what may occur the better you can prep. If you don’t know what to expect, take a look at the past and whatever has happened is likely to happen again.
If Katrina taught us nothing, it taught us that no one is coming for you so you need to be able to take care of your own shit. The time to prepare is now.
We practiced the handling and proper use of a fire extinguisher. 
I know it seems simple but I have never used a fire extinguisher before, I happy to say I have never has the cause to with exception to that one time when Dave and I accidentally caught our house on fire but he grabbed the hose for that one. I kept thinking of that pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger who landed his plane in the Hudson a while back, it was his training and preparation that gave him the chops to save everyone on that flight.
Someone in the class suggested that you change the batteries in you smoke detectors when the clocks change. That was last night, making this a real call to action.
Start where you stand..How great is this?
Start where you stand, of course, where else would you start from it’s so simple and so chic. Start where you stand, I LOVE it.
Assess the situation. Your personal safety comes first. In coaching I call this the oxygen mask theory. It’s imperative that you place the oxygen mask on yourself first. You can’t give what you don’t have and if you can’t breath, you can’t give anything. You must take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else. So simple and yet so misunderstood.
Always have a buddy. Apparently a fireman never goes it alone, they always work from a buddy system so they know that someone always has their back. I like this; it’s very support system.
The things I learned the most about today is setting up a triage. We learned how to go through an emergency scene where there are mass injuries and asses each person’s condition putting them into one of 4 categories
Deceased
Immediate
Minor
Delayed
I love this too; think I am going to start doing it with my dating.
This experience was so cool and empowering for me that I wanted to share it with you and encourage you to get out there and get some training for yourself. It’s a great way to plug into your community, it will make you feel connected and happy and you just might save a life.
When you pass the test and graduate, you get a great emergency kit and you are ready to roll….
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