Red Cross - National Capital Area
Locally, volunteers often take courses given by NCA Chapters – Washington, DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and Fairfax County. They may provide a course on a date/time that is a better fit for your schedule or additional training not offered by Alexandria/Arlington.
You can find training opportunities within the NCA and register for courses at the following link: http://www.redcrossnca.org/index.php/disaster-services.html
Access Online Training
The Red Cross’ Learning Management System (LMS) has a number of Disaster and Health & Safety classes that can be taken online. Please contact the chapter for a username and password and access instructions.
It requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater, and a high-speed Internet connection is recommended.
Defensive Driver Training
Defensive Driver Training is available to American Red Cross employees and volunteers through the National Safety Council's online course for only $15.95. Upon completion of the course, you will have obtained knowledge on how to be a more defensive driver and in some states you may be eligible for a discount on your personal automobile insurance. You should check with your personal insurance company to see if you are eligible for this discount.
Upon successful completion of this course employees and volunteers may submit a copy of their receipt, certificate, and form 1012 for reimbursement. Please contact the chapter for additional instructions. It may take 7-10 days for you to receive your certificate from the National Safety Council.
This on-line defensive driving course meets the requirements of ERVs: Ready, Set Roll.
Other options for defensive driving courses include:
AAA courses for Virginia residents can be found at: http://www.aaamidatlantic.com/DrivingPrograms/Classroom/Virginia
AARP also offers both classroom and online driving safety courses – information can be found on their website at: http://www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/
National Incident Management System
NIMS is the first-ever standardized approach to incident management and response. Developed by the Department of Homeland Security and released in March 2004, it establishes a uniform set of processes and procedures that emergency responders at all levels of government will use to conduct response operations.
Developed by the Secretary of Homeland Security at the request of the President, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) integrates effective practices in emergency response into a comprehensive national framework for incident management.
The NIMS will enable responders at all levels to work together more effectively and efficiently to manage domestic incidents no matter what the cause, size or complexity, including catastrophic acts of terrorism and disasters.
National Incident Management System training is available online for free at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute. All DAT volunteers are encouraged to take this training so that they will become familiar with the Federally-mandated NIMS system used by government at the Local, State, and National levels. Recommended courses, in order, are:
Click on the links above to learn more about each course. When you are ready to take one or more of them, go to the FEMA EMI Learning Center and create an account.
Another FEMA EMI course that is recommended, but not required is:
The Red Cross works very closely with CERT and this course gives you an excellent understanding of what CERT is, what their missions are, and how they carry out those missions. This course is now hosted on CERT's website.
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