http://www.ptblearning.org

Disaster preparation is a primary focus at all levels of government in the wake of multiple threats of recent hurricane seasons; flooding in the Midwest; significant and repeated wild land fires and terrorist attacks.  A significant focus of the preparation is concentrated on providing field responders (i.e., fire, police, and medical services) with the training and equipment to provide a timely and effective response, consistent with the tenets of the National Incident Response System (NIMS).

The purpose of this course is to better prepare telecommunicators who will be part of a Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT) deployment team so they can respond to these challenging situations. Public Safety Call Takers and Telecommunicators in disaster areas often work tirelessly in extremely challenging working conditions. When telecommunicator deployment teams are sent to disaster areas, they may be faced with difficult working conditions, increased environmental stress, and less than ideal accommodations. 

This on-line course is an awareness-level training program. Participants must check with their agency, regional, or State directors for specific deployment information and other policy/procedure mandates. This course is not designed to replace or substitute any established policy/procedure for your particular agency. At a minimum, participants should review and follow their individual agency’s policy/procedure.

Course Goal

This TERT Basic Awareness training course is designed to train experienced call takers and telecommunicators in one public safety service answering point (PSAP) to assist another temporary, alternate, or permanent PSAP when assistance is needed.  This course has been developed and approved by the National Joint TERT Initiative in cooperation with Western Illinois University and meets the requirements outlined in the NJTI Model Recommendations for TERT Deployment (MRTD).

Length of Course

The course can typically be completed in one to two hours.

Internet Connection

It is highly recommended that students utilize a high speed Internet connection.  Dial-up access will run extremely slow and may in fact not work successfully.

 Tuition and Registration

Registration in this course is restricted to telecommunicators, emergency call takers, dispatchers and others associated with emergency response who have been identified as TERT team members by their agency administrators. Qualifying persons may register using two methods – email or by telephone. Access to the course will require 3-5 business days.

Tuition

No tuition will be assessed for this online course.

Certificates

Each student who successfully completes the course will receive a certificate issued by Western Illinois University.  The certificate will be sent electronically.  Please allow one week for receipt of the certificate.

Register by Email

Send an email with the following information to registrar@iletsbei.com.

Name

Agency

Email address (one the student checks consistently)

Name of supervisor

Daytime contact number

Register by Telephone

Telephone registrations are accepted Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. CST, (309) 298-2646.