So, medical training is the #1 answer so far (among my limited options). That is a logical choice. In a really large scale event there will be a need for such skills that is well beyond the supply. This is also consistent with what others who are involved in this push have found. Medical training and "shelter in place" training are most requested. It must be the wisdom of the crowd effect, because those are the two the experts would pick. I will only be doing these in my jurisdiction of Dane county Wisconsin. If you want to find out where to attend such classes in your area, good luck. lol, no. It can be hard to find the resources. A few good places to start are...
www.ready.gov/ - a fed website that can direct you to a local resource. It is also a good place to find out about big event simulations like the "shakeout" on Oct.18.
www.coadwi.org/ - There are COAD chapters across the USA. This is the Wisconsin one. You may have to google a bit to find the one in your state. For someone with no particular disaster skills but who wants to help, this can be a good place to volunteer.
www.citizencorps.gov/cert/ - If you want to up your game and get bloody, perhaps a CERT team is what you want.
www.medicalreservecorps.gov/ - Are you a medical professional? You will be greatly needed in a mass emergency. Get involved here!
www.wi1dmat.org/ - Alpha dogs who can bring there A game might consider joining a DMAT team. These are by state so you may need to google. Here is Wisconsin's DMAT website. You will need to have medical / disaster qualifications and be able to be deployed anywhere in the world for risky operations.
Let me know if you have trouble finding local resources. Or want specialized training such as counter terrorism, financial resilience in disasters for business, animal sheltering in disasters, ... many others.
P.S. Piggy made a full recovery and is now outfitted with a alloy/ composite prosthetic foot.
