I am writing concerning the affordability of housing in New Jersey. Homeowners in New Jersey have benefited from the real estate boom, as skyrocketing home values have provided them with rising home equity. However, the flip side to this equation is that more and more families cannot find affordable housing in New Jersey, which is now the third most expensive state to live in.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that in New Jersey the average household requires a yearly salary of $42,000 to rent a “fair market” apartment. But the state Department of Labor reports that over a third of New Jersey workers earn less than $25,000 a year. Most new jobs created here in the next 10 years will pay near or under that amount.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has not only turned a blind eye to this problem, but has actually continued to cut Section 8 funding for affordable housing on a yearly basis. The federal government’s cuts have offset New Jersey’s attempts to address the need for affordable housing.
New Jersey is one of the few states that recognizes affordable housing as a constitutional right. Unfortunately, the need for affordable housing is not being met.
Eddie Konczal
Monroe Township
Law would require AEDs in health and fitness clubs
As American Heart Association volunteers, board members, physicians and concerned New Jersey citizens, we urge support and passage of New Jersey Senate bill S-2567. If passed, this legislation could, over time, save untold numbers of New Jersey lives by requiring all health clubs and fitness centers to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on-site and staff properly trained to use AEDs.
According to a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, health clubs/fitness centers are among the top 10 public places with the highest occurrence of sudden cardiac arrest (“sudden death”), which is different from a heart attack.
In March 2002, a joint scientific statement from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association urged fitness clubs throughout the country to install defibrillators (AEDs) and train staff to use them.
The American Heart Association has called sudden cardiac arrest a major unresolved public health issue. Sudden cardiac arrest, sometimes referred to as “sudden death,” is the No. 1 cause of death in this country. The American Heart Association estimates that at least 250,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest. Few victims of cardiac arrest survive after 10 minutes. The national survival rate from cardiac arrest is approximately 8 percent. Surviving cardiac arrest is all about “time.”
The number of Americans who exercise regularly at fitness clubs has increased steadily in recent years, as has their age. It’s time for all New Jersey health clubs and fitness centers to be better prepared for cardiac and other medical emergencies. The American Heart Association is aware of at least seven documented lives that have been saved in New Jersey during the past four years at health clubs and fitness centers equipped with an AED program. However, those health clubs/fitness centers are in the minority in the Garden State. The vast majority of clubs are not prepared with defibrillator programs.
The cost to purchase a defibrillator, once $2,500 or more, has now dropped below $1,500, making AEDs affordable for nearly everyone. A commercial treadmill might cost $4,500 to $8,000. Surely the cost of saving a life is worth the investment of an AED. New Jersey’s PAD (public access defibrillation) legislation, signed into public law on March 8, 1999, features Good Samaritan immunity, which provides immunity from liability to individuals and organizations that act in good faith while using an AED or implementing an AED program in an attempt to save a life.
Surviving sudden cardiac arrest is all about time. The goal of the American Heart Association is that for anyone experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, early 911, early CPR, and early defibrillation will occur in the first five minutes before brain damage begins. Citizens deserve proper safely and protection in their health clubs. We urge swift passage of Senate bill S-2567. Help strengthen New Jersey’s “chain of survival” and improve the chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest.
Dr. Poonam Alaigh
President, American Heart Association North Jersey Region
Board of Directors
Dr. Perry Weinstock
American Heart Association
South Jersey Region
Board of Directors