The May meeting of ARES of Champaign County was held Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at the Fire Service Institute.  Here are important notes from that meeting and other news.

ATTENDING
N9XDC, WB9HFK, K9SI, KC9HXY, W9EML, W9DML, KB9KAI, K9LMM, KB9UJV, N9DN, KC9IHX, KC9IKL, K9MLT, N9GPA, KC9KZG, KC9JVR, KC9KGJ, KC9KRE, KC9HND, W9CMA, NH7WN, AB9FJ  (22)


RED CROSS PRESENTATION
We were pleased to have as our guest speaker at the May 2 meeting Jamie Davis, Emergency Services Coordinator for the Champaign office of the American Red Cross.  Accompanying Jamie was Doug Walker, a Red Cross volunteer who serves as emergency service liaison during ARC operations.  Jamie and Doug familiarized ARES members with the services the Red Cross offers.

On April 22, four ARES members (N9XDC, K9MLT, KF8ZN, K9SI) observed a tabletop drill run by the Red Cross held at the St. Joseph Middle School.  The drill scenario involved a tornado touchdown in St. Joseph producing significant damage.  The drill involved many of the function areas of the Red Cross and services they would provide in such a situation.  This was a worthwhile event for us to attend and observe and provided some good insight about where ARES could be utilized in such situations.  Mike Trautman, K9MLT, has written a nice summary of the drill and it is posted on the ARES web site.  You can find the summary in the Activities section, Drills and Exercises.


CPR/AED/FIRST AID TRAINING
In response to the interest expressed at our May meeting, Heather Schlesser, KC9DEQ, will be offering CPR/AED   (Automated External Defibrillator) training at our June meeting.  We will follow that up with first aid training at the July meeting. There were significant changes to the CPR protocol in 2005, and if you have not had or updated your CPR training since that time you should plan to attend this meeting. Note that this training will take an hour and a half to two hours. If you have ever wanted to learn CPR or need to be re-certified, don't miss this opportunity. The skills you learn could help save a life.


PUBLIC SERVICE EVENTS
ARES provided communications support for two of our "regular events" in the past few weeks.  The march of Dimes Walk America was held on April 28 in Champaign, based out of Centennial Park.  Participating in the event were K9MLT, W9SZ, KC9HXY, KC9IHX, N9GKA, and N9XDC.  On May 6 we provided support for the MS Walk at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana.  Helping with this event were KC9DEQ, N9XDC, KC9HND, N9GPA, KC9HSB, W9EML, W9DML, KC9JVR, KB9TIQ, KC9DUU, and KC9JVY.  We had great weather for both events this year.  Thanks to everyone who helped out.  Photos of the March of Dimes Walk have been posted to the web site.


UPDATE ON FEMA TRAINING
As of May 2, 22 CCARES members have completed ICS-100, 20 have completed ICS-700, 12 completions of ICS-200, and 8 completions of ICS-800. 

More information and links to the FEMA Emergency Management Institute can be found on the WA9RES web site.

When you complete any of the FEMA courses, you will need to send a copy of your course completion certificate to me so your training file can be updated and we have a record of your completion.


WEEKLY NETS
The weekly ARES net is held each Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., on the 444.100 repeater, CTSS 162.2.  The ARES 2m Simplex net is held on 146.550 immediately following the 440 net .  Net control stations for the next four weeks are posted in the Nets section of the web site.


NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting will be on Wednesday, June 6, at 7:00 p.m.  Heather. Kc9DEQ, will provide CPR/AED training.