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The national Citizen
Corps initiative was developed in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, to
bring volunteers and first responder organizations together to help
communities better prepare for, and respond to, all types of
emergencies. The Citizen Corps program began in 2002, and today
there are nearly 1,900 local Citizen Corps councils throughout the
U.S., serving 70 percent of the total U.S. population. Illinois has
80 Citizen Corps councils throughout the state, and the number of
councils continues to grow steadily each year. The Illinois Citizen
Corps Council, an Illinois Terrorism Task Force committee, provides
support for Citizen Corps councils in Illinois through training and
education.
While Citizen Corps volunteers are trained to assist during
emergencies in their communities, that training had much more
far-reaching effects in 2004, when nearly 170 volunteers from
Citizen Corps councils in Illinois took part in recovery efforts
following several hurricanes in the southeastern United States.
Illinois sent the third-largest state contingent of volunteers for
the nationwide effort.
"In the last few years, we've seen several large-scale disasters
-- such as 9/11, the 2004 hurricanes and, most recently, Hurricane
Katrina -- where local response and recovery efforts were severely
strained," said Mike Chamness, chairman of the Illinois Terrorism
Task Force. "Volunteers can play a significant role in disasters,
whether large or small, and we're very pleased that so many
communities have embraced the Citizen Corps program in Illinois."
The Citizen Corps conference offered participants the opportunity
to hear from state and federal officials about developments in the
Citizen Corps program, learn response techniques and hear from other
Citizen Corps councils about their program successes.
Attendees also learned more about Teen School Emergency Response
Training from Haley Rich, who helped initiated the program in
Pueblo, Colo. The teen program is based on the community emergency
response team concept. The teen training teaches students to handle
emergency situations so they can help themselves and their families
during a crisis.
"We're creating a generation of preparedness, and we're starting
one child at a time," Rich said. "In my community alone, out of the
first 46 kids trained, we've had six lives saved." Rich added that
the program reaches all teenage populations, transcending
traditional barriers such as disabilities.
Rich also conducted a session on moulage, which involves
realistic-looking injuries created from everyday items such as corn
starch, cocoa powder, oatmeal and melted lipstick. Rich said using
moulage in training helps reduce anxiety in real situations because
responders have already been exposed to realistic-looking
lacerations, burns, blisters, broken bones and other forms of
trauma.
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 The following Citizen Corps councils attended the workshop in
Springfield on Tuesday:
- Adams County
- Addison
- Arlington Heights
- Aurora
- Barrington
- Belvidere
- Boone County
- Champaign
- Chicago
- Collinsville
- Des Plaines
- Douglas County
- DuPage County
- Effingham County
- Elgin
- Evanston
- Farmington
- Fayette County
- Fox Lake
- Galesburg
- Hanover Park
- Highland Park
- Inverness
- Itasca
- Jefferson County
- Kankakee County
- Lake County
- LaSalle County
- Libertyville
- Madison County
- Maine Township
- McDonough County
- Moline-Quad Cities
- Monmouth
- Naperville
- Northwest Henry County
- Palatine
- Plainfield
- Seneca
- Southeastern DuPage County
- Springfield
- Trenton
- Wauconda
- Waukegan
- West Chicago
- Westmont
- Will County
- Winfield Township
[Illinois
Emergency Management Agency news release]
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