Lake Balboa NC Board Member's CERT Training Put To Use

It's always such a pleasure to brag on our CERT graduates, and especially when they are part of our own Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council Board!
I wanted you all to know that our own Brian Tessier put his CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) skills to work on Saturday afternoon, October 19th, at the corner of Haynes and Haskell Streets at the 405 Freeway.  Several of our Council Board members were there 'supervising' a mural being painted by students from Magnolia Science Academy when a wreck occurred about 4:30 in the afternoon.  A van heading north on Haskell smashed into an suv going south on Haskell and making a left turn onto the freeway.  Members of our group were on their cell phones calling 911 immediately.
The occupants of the suv got out of their car fairly quickly.  The air bags had gone off, and the front seat passenger was bleeding from the nose and some lacerations on his face and right arm.  (His shirt will make for a great Halloween costume if he decides to dress up as a zombie this year!)
Brian ran to his car to get his 'go' bag (72 hour kit), and over to the passenger.  His first-aid kit was filled with all the things we as CERT members are taught to carry, and it was evident that he knew how to use them!   He soon had the young man calmed down, cleaned up, and properly bandaged.  Thanks to Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council and Bill Hopkins, their EP Chair, for sponsoring the CERT class Brian took there last fall under Firefighter Mason.
By the time the fire department from Station 39 in Van Nuys arrived,  when the paramedic came over to check Brian's 'patient', all he could say was that there was absolutely nothing he could do that Brian had not already done!  The young man wanted to know if we were with the Fire Department -- we told him no, but that we were trained by them.  🙂
Thanks for all the great CERT training, LAFD.  And thanks to Brian for being prepared and remembering that training!
Linda Pruett
Emergency Preparedness Chair
Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council