Arkansas is the latest state to join a national initiative to teach teens disaster preparedness skills, according to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
A dozen agents, program associates and community volunteers from eight counties, all affiliated with the Cooperative Extension Service, completed the My Preparedness Initiative, or MyPI, instructor training.
MyPI is a national initiative that provides a disaster preparedness program developed for teens so they can take ownership of their own preparedness and help their families and communities do the same, according to officials.
“It gives teens a sense of ownership of their community,” said Ashley Dingman, MyPI Arkansas coordinator and extension 4-H After school program associate for the U of A System Division of Agriculture. “It’s important to think about the times we’re living in and all the disasters that could happen. Whether they are natural like a tornado or manmade … these kids are growing up in a world that is different from the one you and I grew up in.”
Instruction training lasted three days and participants were trained in CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), fire suppression and safety, triage, light search and rescue and identifying terrorist activity.
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With their certification, the new MyPI instructors can teach the program to youth in their county. This year, 125 Arkansas teens will become MyPI graduates.
“The program is not only knowledge-based, but it really focuses on experience learning,” Dingman said.
The MyPI program is flexible, lasting five to 10 weeks. It’s divided into three components. In the first, participants will complete the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency-certified CERT training and other modules that cover disaster preparedness, fire safety, utility control, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, CERT and CERT organization, disaster psychology and terrorism.
The second component focuses on CPR certification, use of automated external defibrillators (AED devices), and disaster tools such as ham radio, NOAA Weather Radio, smoke alarm maintenance and smart phone apps and social media use.
In the final component of the program, each participant will have a service project where they will develop emergency supply kits and communication plans for their family and six other households.
The program is made free to participants through a federal grant.
Dingman said she is looking forward to the ripple effect she hopes the program will have.
At the end of the year, the 125 MyPI program graduates will have created 875 emergency supply kits for members of their communities. Next year she hopes to have 10 more instructors trained to reach even more communities in Arkansas.
“It will be amazing to see how this program will impact Arkansas,” Dingman said.
Details: MyPI Arkansas, Ashley Dingman at adingman@uaex.edu, or https://mypiarkansas.org.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without discrimination.
— Emily Thompson is with the U of A System Division of Agriculture.