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West Hartford, CT – March 11, 2007 – The West Hartford Kiwanis Club has become one of the first clubs in the nation to take on the role of citizen first responders to emergencies in the State of Connecticut.

Answering President Bush's call for increased citizen participation in disaster response and recovery, the local Kiwanis has developed an emergency response team whose mission is accountability and identification of emergency responders and evacuees at disasters and incidents.

The team, which is sponsored by the Town of West Hartford Emergency Management Department, has received basic training under the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program in such subjects as fire protection, light rescue, first aid and incident command procedures.

The mission specific training for the Community Accountability and Identification (CAID) team involves extensive practice with the Salamander ID Systems Program, currently being used by most regions of the state. During 9/11 over 8,000 IDs and security passes were issued at the Pentagon alone, illustrating the need for a highly skilled team. Fire Chief William H. Austin, also a member of the club, explained that “this vitally important mission will be performed by elements of 2-3 Kiwanis members working 4-8 hour shifts”. The AID team is deployable anywhere in the state. Austin said, “the club's mission is a perfect example of how citizens can play an important role in disasters and feel good about helping their community and state during major events”.