By Blake Deshazo

The Selma Times-Journal

When an emergency or disaster happens, everyone needs to know how to react and what to do.

The Dallas County Emergency Management Agency is helping people prepare for the worst by hosting a training session in March.

The session, which focuses on isolation and quarantine situations, will be held Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18 at the Central Alabama Farmers Co-op on U.S. Highway 80 in Selma.

While the agency has hosted training sessions in the past, this one is a little different than previous sessions.

“This is the first time that we have actually had a course that was designated specifically to businesses and public attention,” said Rhonda Johnson, director of the Dallas County EMA.

The session will offer four different classes for businesses, first responders, law enforcement and medical personnel.

“It’s broken down so that businesses will have their own training, while law enforcement and all first responders will have separate training,” Johnson said. “And the medical professions will have different trainings as well.”

Johnson encourages everyone that is interested to sign up for the training.

“We hope that people will take the opportunity to do it. It is free of charge. All they have to do is go online and register or call our office and register,” Johnson said.

A grant from the Department of Homeland Security allows them to put on the session free of charge.

While the chances of a disaster that requires isolation or quarantine might be unlikely, Johnson said, it is important to be prepared for everything.

“We hope we never have to be in a situation like this, but in the event that we do, this training will help people know what they need to do and know how they need to prepare themselves, or their businesses or even how first responders need to prepare to be able to still handle emergency calls in a situation like this,” Johnson said.

One of the main goals of the session, Johnson said, is to teach people not to panic.

“Panic is a lot of times the greatest disaster,” Johnson said.

To register and see the full training schedule, visit ruraltraining.org. Those interested can also register by calling the Dallas County EMA office at 875-2515.