BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
EDISON — Carbon monoxide poisoning has been ruled out as one of the causes that sent 12 women and 16 children who were housed at the Catholic Charities’ Ozanam Family Shelter to area hospitals on Jan. 25, according Marianne Majewski, executive director of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen.
The women and children, temporarily housed at the Ozanam Family Shelter on Truman Drive, were taken for treatment this past Monday to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center and St. Peter’s University Medical Hospital, both in New Brunswick, and to JFK Medical Center’s satellite emergency center in South Plainfield, according to a press release by Edison Township.
“No one is being treated for carbon monoxide exposure,” said Majewski. “The cause of the symptoms still is unknown. It appears to be gastrointestinal in nature.”
In the midst of Winter Storm Jonas, which dropped upwards of 20 inches of snow and brought heavy winds to the area over the weekend, PSE&G crews and the township Fire Department were dispatched to the Ozanam Shelter where they detected concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) in one part of facility after a woman became ill.
After the woman was hospitalized, levels of carbon monoxide were found in her blood stream, said township OEM Coordinator Capt. Andew Toth.
However, Majewski countered stating one of the possible causes of carbon monoxide from a boiler repair that took place at the facility on Jan. 23 was quickly ruled out by the township’s health and fire departments.
Majewski explained that on Jan. 23, a CO alarm alerted shelter staff to a boiler malfunction. After the alarm sounded, residents were promptly relocated to another building on the property while the boiler was repaired and inspected by a certified technician. Residents remained there until the shelter was deemed to be safe by crews that were called out to check CO levels at the facility.
“The shelter was cleared by the fire department on Saturday and again on Monday,” she said. “There is no carbon monoxide issue at the shelter.”
Majewski said all residents who left the facility to get check out at a local hospital have returned to the family shelter on Jan. 26.
“No one was hospitalized,” she said.
The Edison Office of Emergency Management has been notified of the outcome, Majewski said.