SPOTSWOOD–Prepping patrons on emergency safety for the current hurricane season, the Spotswood Office on Aging and Senior Center sponsored its “Are You Prepared” event.
“Over the past 10 years we have had some serious issues and I am not going to get into any discusses about global warming or climate change, but they’re not going away [and] there is a weather phenomenon that is happening throughout the world,” Director Donna Faulkenberry said. “So what we are here to discuss … today is what we can do to best prepare ourselves in the event that something happens in our area.”
More than 25 patrons attended the event with Councilman and Spotswood Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jose Rivera and Deputy Coordinator Larry Kraemer on Aug. 7 at the Spotswood Office on Aging.
Rivera said over 36 years he has worked for fire department, including in Perth Amboy and Spotswood. He is also a retired law enforcement officer, ex-fire chief, instructor and fire official.
Rivera said that everyone should have a “goodie bag” ready at their house, which is a duffle bag or backpack that contains a flashlight, prescribed medication for at least seven days and copies of insurance cards.
“If something happens you can just bring that bag and just go to whereever you have to go for safety. It’s nice to have all of your medications written down due to the fact [that] … Spotswood High School is our shelter,” Rivera said. “If I open up the [school] to be a shelter, I will have a nurse there, I’ll have EMTs there, security … the Salvation Army will show up, the Red Cross will show up [and] the nurses will try and get you your medication if you don’t have them.”
Rivera said residents should have in their house, at all times, at least a gallon of water, food that will last three days, a battery-powered radio and/or a hand-crank radio, a first aid kit, dust masks, garbage bags, plastic ties, a wrench and/or pliers, a can opener, and local maps in case a navigation system does not function.
The borough has a Special Needs Registry where residents can fill out a form so that in the event of an emergency, the emergency officials will contact them to make sure they are OK, and to get them emergency assistance as soon as possible, according to Faulkenberry.
With hurricane season underway, Rivera said if someone uses an oxygen machine, he needs to know so that in case of an emergency he knows who he needs to get oxygen to.
“If you lose power or anything like that please don’t start calling 911. A lot of people are doing this, but the only thing you are doing if you lose power, if you call 911, you are overloading the system,” Rivera said. “So if someone needs help they are not going to get it. Just use the regular [Spotswood Police Department] number; 911 should only be used for emergency situations.”
For residents who are bedridden, Rivera said, “Usually someone is there with them, so have that person call and say, ‘Look, I need help, this person is bedridden’ and we send the first aid squad to get them out of there.”
The high school will act as the borough’s shelter in case of an emergency, and holds about 500 people in the school gym. For residents who live in the Clearwater Village housing development, its clubhouse will act as a secondary shelter, according to Rivera.
Rivera said at the high school there will be a trailer with cages where residents can lodge their pets.
Resident and Community Emergency Responce Team (CERT) member Larry Kraemer has been a CERT member for eight years, starting in Woodbridge; he is still a lieutenant on its CERT team.
“Our job is to supplement the Office of Emergency Management,” Kraemer said. “Most of our team over there is Emergency Medical Responders (EMR). We have 54 hours of training so we are not EMTs but we are not your usual first aider.”
Kraemer said CERT members are trained to cut off the gas and electricity in someone’s house in case of an emergency. They are also trained in light search and rescue.
“I really got into this to the point where I have been trained in pretty much everything. If there is a training program for it, I go. I have about 35 different certifications in everything from wide-area search to training people to be CERT members,” Kraemer said.
All the training and equipment needed to become a CERT member is provided by CERT. If residents are interested in joining, they can contact Faulkenberry or Rivera.
For more information, visit www.spotswoodboro.com/officeonagingpage01.html or call 732-251-3432.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].