Requirements
The following minimum requirements must be met to be accepted on the Pottawattamie County Disaster Animal Response Team (PCDART).
PCDART applications must be accompanied by certificates of completion for the following Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) courses before an interview will be scheduled.
FEMA Courses: All courses are available online on the FEMA website at no cost at: http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp.
- Incident Command System (IS 100)
- Incident Command System for Single Resources/Initial Action Incidents (IS 200)
- National Incident Management System (NIMS), an Introduction (IS 700)
- Animals in Disaster: Module A - Awareness and Preparedness (IS 10)
- Animals in Disaster: Module B - Community Planning (IS 11)
- Livestock in Disasters (IS 111)
Requirements
Once accepted as a member of the PCDART, the team member will be required to attend the following trainings before being allowed to deploy/respond to a disaster situation. If the team member has already taken the required training or its equivalent, they will not be required to take it again.
The trainings will be scheduled and paid for by the Pottawattamie County Animal Control Department.
- Human First Aid and CPR - This training is an instructor lead course and will be scheduled by the Animal Control Department.
- Pet First Aid and CPR - This training is an instructor lead course and will be scheduled by the Animal Control Department.
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Course:
- Disaster Animal Response Team (DART) Training – This training is an instructor lead course and will be scheduled by the Animal Control Department.
Recommendations
The following trainings are NOT requirements to be on the PCDART, however they have been identified as trainings that may benefit team members in the event they deploy/respond to a disaster.
In the event of a disaster in Pottawattamie County, the American Red Cross will be contacted to provide shelters for people who have evacuated their homes. The PCDART will work closely with the American Red Cross to provide pet sheltering for the pets of the people in the Red Cross shelters. To better understand the operations of the Red Cross and how the PCDART can help, we recommend taking the Red Cross trainings if possible. All American Red Cross disaster training is free through your local Red Cross chapter.
American Red Cross
- Introduction to Disaster Services - This training is on the American Red Cross website at no cost: http://www.redcross.org/flash/course01_v01/\
- Mass Care
- Shelter Operations
Recommendations
Immunizations The following immunizations are highly recommended. Priority for deployment will be given to volunteers that have received these vaccinations.
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Tetanus
- Pre-Exposure Rabies