LIFE
DEBRIEFING: Preparing for a
Spiritual Crisis
The coronavirus crisis has transformed our world. What will we learn about how to prepare for future crises—especially the most dangerous, spiritual ones?
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n 2001 my wife and I had the opportunity to participate in the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training program in our area. This program has the goal of training citizen volunteers to effectively assist first responders in a community-wide emergency. Volunteers are trained in advanced first aid skills, light search and rescue techniques, fire suppression, setting up first aid stations, how to triage victims so those needing immediate care are identified and transported, logistics and a host of other skills most would never consider. Training volunteers to handle some of these basic responsibilities frees first responders to use their more advanced skills where they are most needed.
take part in a carefully constructed disaster simulation, followed by a debriefing with the first responders. Sitting through the classes, many of which involved hands-on training, we felt we were being well prepared for whatever emergencies may arise. But nothing teaches as effectively as the disaster simulation, when we had to analyze the situation and make decisions in real time without anyone telling us what to do. The debriefing with the professionals was one of the most helpful and sobering parts of the entire program. While they did their best to be encouraging, it was clear that many of us had made serious mistakes that could have cost lives—our own or others’. The humbling realization of our failure to see and properly assess the hidden dangers taught us in ways the classroom presentations never could.
Disaster simulation
The benefits of debriefing
As our training program, which lasted several weeks, neared its end, those of us participating were required to
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DISCERN
While it is easy to be critical of the mistakes people make in times of crisis, taking the time to examine
July/August 2020
