CERT Class, AED access and CPR training bolster preparedness
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Congratulations, CERT class of 2026!
Twenty-seven island volunteers recently graduated from the basic training course for the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. The students worked diligently over evenings and weekends for seven weeks, covering topics such as disaster preparedness, fire safety and suppression, disaster medicine and psychology, and search-and-rescue techniques. Like nearly everything CERT does, the course was a team effort: numerous experienced CERT members helped teach the trainees. Graduates received hard hats, vests and Storm whistles.
The CERT team is known as the “Swiss Army knife” of Vashon’s preparedness coalition because members master a wide variety of disaster-response skills. Thanks to all the trainers, and congratulations to the new graduates.
Automated external defibrillators save lives
Thanks to Vashon Island Fire and Rescue, or VIFR, the island receives excellent emergency response to sudden cardiac arrests, matching the overall King County 911 response.
King County Emergency Medical Services has shown that with bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, early shock with an automated external defibrillator, or AED, and emergency medical services support, patient survival rates can increase from a tragic 10% to a more hopeful 46%.
But access to public AEDs in the community is uneven, especially outside business hours, at the south end of Vashon and in Maury Island neighborhoods.
That is why the Public AEDs Task Force — made up of representatives from VIFR, the Sam Yates Community Foundation and Vashon Medical Reserve Corps — aims to get all private AEDs on the island registered so members can identify the gaps and work to fill them with more publicly accessible AEDs.
If you own an AED, please consider registering it in support of the island’s task force program. You can register your device with: 1. the PulsePoint AED app, available at pulsepoint.org/pulsepoint-aed; and/or 2. King County at kingcounty.gov/aed/registration.
The locations of private AEDs registered with PulsePoint will be available to PulsePoint subscribers and VIFR emergency responders.
If you do not want to register your personal AED, the task force would still like to hear from you. Email info@vashonbeprepared.org solely for island public AED planning purposes.
Your information will not be shared publicly or with PulsePoint. AED owners are welcome to reach out with questions and to receive AED support. The Public AEDs Task Force also encourages AED owners and their families to take a CPR/AED class every year because protocols change based on the latest research.
Success in the chain of survival from cardiac arrest follows this proven sequence:
Recognize the emergency and call 911.
Start CPR.
Get an AED and use it as soon as possible.
Paramedics and hospital staff provide advanced life support.
Recovery and rehabilitation.
Stayin’ alive: upcoming CPR/AED classes
Vashon Island Fire & Rescue continues to offer free classes in CPR and the use of AEDs. The next class is May 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. Practice CPR on a dummy, and find out just how easy it is to use an AED. You will also learn how and when to administer naloxone, also known as Narcan. Reserve your spot at vifr.org/cpr-classes.
Thank you, Vashon volunteers!
National Volunteer Week is April 19-25. Be sure to thank your favorite Vashon volunteers. We are giving a special shoutout to VashonBePrepared volunteers, including the new CERT graduates.
Volunteers invest many hours to learn and practice the skills needed to respond to a disaster or other adverse event on Vashon. You make our community more resilient — thank you. Learn more about volunteering with these groups at vashonbeprepared.org/help-out.
