Thursday, May 16, 2013
NJ Hope and Healing has had more than 14,000 face-to-face contacts since November as they help locals recover from the emotional impact of Superstorm Sandy
The mood has changed. A log from NJ Hope and Healing shows that people impacted by Hurricane Sandy have gone from feeling shocked, sad and tired with a loss of appetite to angry, hopeless and unable to make decisions. “People are having a natural reaction to abnormal circumstances,” said Carol Benevy, Project Lead for NJ Hope and Healing. NJ Hope and Healing is a project sponsored by the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Disaster and Terrorism Branch, through a FEMA grant. In partnership with Barnabas Health Institute for Prevention, NJ Hope and Healing offers support to communities in the aftermath of Sandy. “We coordinate statewide efforts to help individuals and communities manage the emotional impact of the …
Monday, April 15, 2013
Letter to the editor
The following letter to the editor was submitted by Jennifer Velez, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services: It’s hard to believe how quickly time has gone by since Superstorm Sandy devastated many of our New Jersey communities, damaging homes and businesses and wreaking widespread havoc on the lives of Garden State families in its path. In the wake of Sandy’s destruction, we also saw the character of our New Jersey communities. Our people stood up in remarkable ways to help each other, to stabilize our state, and to take care of each other – because it’s what New Jerseyans do. The extensive physical damage from the rare superstorm was immediately evident, with storm-beaten homes, buildings and scattered debris …
Friday, January 18, 2013
NJ SAFE will analyze data from numerous sources to provide recommendations on issues like gun control.
In an effort to address and understand the root causes of violent crimes, and in response to President Barack Obama's recent proposed assault weapon ban, Gov. Chris Christie announced the development of a new task force Thursday afternoon called the NJ SAFE Task Force. By creating NJ SAFE, Christie said he hopes to take a comprehensive look at where gun control, addiction, mental health, and school safety in New Jersey intersect. While the state has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, Christie said his hope is that the task force will focus on real, common sense measures that could be appropriate for New Jersey moving forward. The bipartisan task force is comprised of six members and is being co-chaired by two former New Jersey …
Monday, November 19, 2012
New Jersey Mental Health Association, Ocean County Health Department weigh in
From Andrew Kitchenman, reporting for NJ Spotlight: People struggling with mental health issues like anxiety and depression have a difficult time under the best of circumstances. Now imagine them trying to cope after being forced from their homes for more than 10 days -- part of that time without their medication. Michele Green-Ferrante, a program director at the New Jersey Mental Health Association, doesn't have to imagine. She's working with 20 clients displaced from their Toms River-area homes by Hurricane Sandy, helping them find places to stay and pharmacies that can fill their prescriptions. “A lot of folks came here very quickly and did not have their medication,” Green-Ferrante said. While New Jersey’s healthcare system plans for …
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Local Hannah Banana Foundation gives to Ocean Medical Center patients. Volunteers are impressed.
Hannah Banana Foundation visited the Ocean Medical Center Wednesday, bearing therapeutic gifts for chronicallly ill, hospitalized patients to be distributed as needed throughout the coming months. Volunteers from Brick and the surrounding communities set up an assembly line to package the donated gifts, which included word puzzles, notepads, pens, coloring books, markers, playing cards and response postcards. Toms River dentist and Middletown resident, Gary Prisand D.M.D., P.A., and two volunteers from the Hannah Banana Foundation came to Ocean Medical to help set up and delegate. Twice a year, visits like these are made to 18 hospitals in the New York and New Jersey area to fill 10,000 banana yellow bags. Each bag is given to …
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Freeholders award 19 contracts to cover a number of services
A $4.77 million social service safety net for senior citizens, juveniles and the mentally ill is being spread this week in Ocean County, with the awarding of 19 contracts by the county's freeholders. Senior citizen nutrition and socialization programs delivered by Community Services Inc. of Ocean County, Lakewood, will cost $2.54 million. That includes $1.09 million for weekday home delivered meals, $121,479 to provide them on weekends, and $782,173 for meals for the elderly served at nutrition sites around the county. Another $508,583 will be spent by the same agency for socialization efforts. The bulk of the money for those programs comes from the federal Older Americans Act. Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari said 220,000 home delivered meals …
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KC
10:26 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013
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