GAF buys supplies for LW’s own emergency support team
CERT AND THE GAF
The Golden Age Foundation supports the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Leisure World with backpacks and other equipment to help it carry out its mission to respond when professional help is not immediately available.
Leisure World’s own CERT team and program is designed to meet the special requirements of the retirement community. Among its sponsors is the Woman’s Club.
The GAF gave CERT 60 backpacks, designed to protect volunteers. Packs contained gloves, goggles, a light stick, helmet and chin strap, a head lamp strapped to the helmet for hands-free illumination and face masks, among other supplies.
The GAF, a nonprofit that uses donations to make Leisure World a better place to live, spent $3,144.73 for 60 backpacks.
Most recently, the GAF provided equipment to help victims in the event of a disaster, including a non-sparking, four-in-one tool to turn off water, hammers, small pry bars, triangular bandages for slings, self-adherent bandages to save time in triage, waterproof flashlights that can be used in any weather, seatbelt cutters to help extracate people from cars or wheelchairs, tourniquets to stop the bleeding and more.
Each CERT graduate receives a fully loaded backpack and the new provisions will be distributed after volunteers take a class on how to use the equipment. CERT classes will resume once clubhouses reopen.
CERT training includes a 20-hour, FEMA-approved course covering personal disaster preparedness, light search and rescue, fire suppression, team organization, medical operations including triage, disaster psychology and terrorism.
Once training can resume, the class schedule and sign-up information is publicized in the LW Weekly. The training is ideal for all shareholders, mutual building captains and directors, but all are welcome. Seating is limited.
Leisure World residents can also sign up for LWLive, which supplies real time community information from the Golden Rain Foundation. Sign up at www.lwsb.com.
For more information, contact Eloy Gomez, GRF safety and emergency coordinator, at 431- 6586, ext. 356, or eloyg@lwsb.com.
The Golden Age Foundation is nonprofit, charitable organization dedicated to serving Leisure World shareholders. Its purpose is to make the community a better place to live. When there is a welldefined need calling for a solution, the Golden Age Foundation will fill it if possible.
Because Golden Age Foundation has been certified as a nonprofit organization by the Internal Revenue Service, contributions made to it qualify for exemption from income taxes, in most cases.
—Phil Mandeville and Anna Derby
