$50K federal grant boosts
emergency response effort
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — A $50,000 grant has been received by the township health department to support its Medical Reserve Corps initiative.
"The grant is one of 167 grants issued nationwide in this second year of the program," said David Richardson, health officer. "There were three other initial grants issued to New Jersey entities in addition to three continuation grants."
The Medical Reserve Corps, a component of the Citizen Corps, will coordinate the skills of physicians, nurses, health professionals and others who are willing to volunteer and help out during emergencies and other times of community need.
Citizen Corps was launched in January 2002 as part of President George W. Bush’s USA Freedom Corps to foster a culture of service, citizenship and responsibility, and to help all Americans find ways to answer the president’s call to service.
Through a network of Citizen Corps Councils at the state and local levels, Citizen Corps brings together leaders from law enforcement, fire, emergency medical and emergency management, local government, volunteer organizations and the private sector to engage citizens in homeland security efforts and strengthen programs such as Volunteers in Police Service; Neighborhood Watch; Medical Reserve Corps; and Community Emergency Response Team training.
Manalapan officials plan to use these funds to support existing salaries and purchase equipment and surplus medical supplies to be used in the event of an emergency, Richardson said.
"The use of the supplies is expected to be coordinated with the needs of the Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad and will serve to support potential emergency triage situations," said the health officer. "The volunteers will be trained and organized into teams to support emergency medical care and triage, shelter management and public health awareness efforts. These volunteers will support and supplement the existing emergency services in the township, notably the Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad."
Richardson said one of the first priorities will be a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training program. The training began on Dec. 9 and will include nine more sessions through April.
"This will facilitate training in the many aspects of CERT, ultimately ending with a graduation ceremony," said Richardson.
Reacting to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, township officials and residents were shocked and angered. Richardson said the members of the Board of Health sensed this and sought to develop a system that could enable interested citizens to help in emergency situations.
"Ultimately a team of 60 people was formed, including a large number of medical personnel," said Richardson. "The board [of health] received a lot of support in this initiative, ultimately positioning itself to apply for this grant."
"The board is ecstatic about this news," said Walter Stein, chairman, of the Board of Health. "Although the entire board made the creation of this emergency response team a priority, it was the efforts of Vice Chairwoman Kim Silverstein that really galvanized the issue and brought this success. We are also extremely pleased that this grant requires no township dollars to match the money from the federal government."
Richardson said the township is always looking for more volunteers (with and without a medical background) to get involved. For more information call (732) 446-8349 or (732) 446-3200 and ask for the health department.