A county emergency response program graduated its latest class of trainees Saturday, the second in an effort by officials to recruit members of faith-based organizations for the volunteer effort.
About 150 young adults from three mosques in North Jersey collected certificates for completing basic training in the Community Emergency Response Team program. The participants belong to Nida-ul-Islam and Dar-ul-Islah, both in Teaneck, and the Islamic Center of Passaic County, in Paterson.
Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan and Freeholder Maura DeNicola both attended the ceremony, held at the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Complex.
“What you now know is more than most of us know,” Donovan said. “So you can help in times of emergency. You can help your own community and you can help the larger Bergen County community.”
Muslim leaders approached the county about getting involved with public service and were steered to the CERT program.
Mohammad Qureshi, an executive board member at Nida-ul-Islam said his faith dictates that people should help their neighbors. “Just as your family members have an obligation to take care of you, you have an obligation to do the same for your neighbor,” he said.
Nidal Matahen, president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, said the participation of mosque members is a way for them to integrate more into the community.
“We’re Muslim but we’re also American,” Matahen said. “We want to build bridges.”
He was among the leaders who approached county officials about getting involved. Of the different programs that were discussed for his members to join, “this is the most impactful,” he said.
During the weekend of Jan. 4, the trainees spent 10 hours each day learning first aid, CPR, fire suppression techniques and terrorism awareness, among other skills.
The training allows the county to have an organized group of volunteers that can be tapped in the even of a wide spread disaster.
At times with the latest class, the students were also educating the teachers.
For example, a discussion on terrorism had some “discrepancies,” Zillehuma Hasan said, which resulted in changes to the curriculum.
“The definition of terrorism that was used made it look like Muslim’s condone it,” she said. “There is no religion that condones violence.”
Hasan, who works for Wafa House, a domestic-violence organization for Muslim women, said the training also introduced the group to things they may not encounter in their own community.
“Muslim homes don’t have dogs,” she said. But trainees learned how to assist both people and their pets during emergencies. “In Islam, humans and animals are to be cared for, so I have to take care of the animals too.”
The county worked with mosque leaders to address cultural considerations during training. An area was set aside for the group to have prayer breaks during classes. Male and female trainees used different mats for practicing CPR. And Muslim leaders organized their own meal catering during the training days.
Sabeela Zia, 29, of Old Tappan, said she learned about the CERT program through her mosque, Nida-ul-Islam.
“This is a great opportunity for the Muslim community to … make a lasting positive impression on the general public,” she said, adding that the CPR training has also inspired her to take more first-aid classes.
This is the second faith-based group the county has trained, to add to its roster of 7,000 CERT members.
The Church of God in Ridgewood assembled a group of 1,200 people from across the state who completed the Bergen County CERT basic training. Prior to that most of the groups the county trained were geographic groups – typically residents from a single town.
“This group is spread throughout the county,” Bergen County Police Chief Brian Higgins said. “And they’re a service-oriented group that really wants to help people.”
In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, officials realized they would need 60 volunteers for several shifts to help people navigate the event. “We made one phone call,” Higgins said.
The Church of God members had the quantity of people needed, handled communication among volunteers, transportation and scheduling shifts.
The basic-training class that graduated Saturday is also culled by county leaders for people who can be tapped for their special talents. Several trainees have first-aid skills and some of the men have experience driving large trucks and hold commercial drivers’ licenses – which would prove useful if the county needed to deploy specialized vehicles to evacuate people during flooding.
After graduation the CERT trainees can continue their education with specialized courses in topics such as shelter management, Hazmat response – even Internet safety and bullying prevention.
“We’ll just keep it going,” said Bergen County Police Detective Gidget Petry, who heads the training program. “This is the first step.”