September (was) Preparedness Month!
Transcript of September (was) Preparedness Month!
September (was) Preparedness Month! Prepare!
Volunteer Spotlight
Welcome New Members
CPR/AED Training Highlights
Schaghticoke Fair
MRC Crossword Challenge
Let’s rebuild the ranks!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Volume 3, Issue 4
Disasters tend to occur at the most inconvenient times (as if
there was ever a convenient time for one)! September being
our National Emergency Preparedness Month, our county
health department wants to remind us to be ready for whatev-
er life throws at us. Do you have a Go-Bag ready? A family
meeting place? An evacuation route, shelter plan and way to
receive emergency alerts and warnings? Do you have all the
appropriate insurance coverages and are they up-to-date?
Do you have copies of your important documents safe and
secure in the Cloud for easy access? How about food and
water for your family (including pets) for several days? (Remember the can opener!) Don’t forget
some extra cash, gas, clothes, hygiene and other emergency items such as flashlights, batteries, first
aid kit and cellphones with chargers. Jennifer Lee, our Emergency Preparedness Training and Exercise
Coordinator puts out a quarterly newsletter that’s always chock full of good ideas on whole range of
preparedness topics. If you’d like to be added to her mailing list, email her at
[email protected]. Preparedness should be a great joint effort! Get everyone in your
household involved with ideas and implementation. Our founding father, Ben Franklin had
it right: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!
Sal Scecchitano, MRC Coordinator
Volunteer Spotlight… Rev. Dr. Gloria Jimpson, RN MSN.
Gloria joined our MRC before retiring from the NYS Department of
Health. A lifelong resident of Rensselaer County, she holds degrees
from Russell Sage College and Drew University. She has volun-
teered for the United Way and Big Brothers and Sisters of Albany
and also serves as an usher for the Capital Repertory Theater.
GloJo, as we like to call her, is a board member of Columbia Coun-
ty Pathways to Recovery, an organization offering hope, advocacy, education and support
for anyone seeking support, relief and recovery for individuals and families impacted by the
crisis of substance use disorders.
Gloria is also the ordained pastor of The Payne AME Church in Chatham and loves working
toward the maintenance of safety nets for all people. She enjoys the people and mission of
the Rensselaer MRC and loves acquiring new skills and keeping them current. We are very
grateful to have GloJo on our team!
MRC Volunteer
Gloria Jimpson
Welcome
New Members!
ALAN CUNNINGHAM
BETTY LOU EDDY
PAUL EDDY
MANUEL FERNANDEZ-VILLADEREY
SHANNON JUDISKY
LAURIE KLINE
EDWARD KRAUS
LINDA KRAUS
STEPHANNIE LEBRECHT
ZACHARY O’FARRELL
MARY ALICE PASANEN
AVANI PATHAK
JOHANNA TRAHAN
CAROL WILEY
Page 2 RENSSELAER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
MRC’s Biannual
CPR/AED
Training
Tuesday, July 17
Bernie, Tina, Nicoole, Judy & Ellen
getting past the book part and
ready for hands-on!
Jerry, Vera, Jen and Pat
work the pre-test
Andrea, Patti, Rachel & Hank
taking it all in
Instructor Staff—Sal, Rich & Sox
run the gamut of emotions!
Instructor Rich Elder
goes over the basics
Amanda (Sox) Serafini
hangin’ with the dummies!
“Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive!”
CPR Travolta style...
2018
Page 3
CROSSWORD CHOICES (combine some with a hyphen or use 2 words with a space)
CASH CAN HAND PANCHO WHISTLE GO GLOW HYGIENE DOCUMENTS
DUCT BAG TAPE PETS STICKS CHARGER CRANK OPENER RAIN
RENSSELAER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
SAVE THE DATE!
THURSDAY,
October 25
5:30pm
OUR NEXT
QUARTERLY
MRC MEETING
County Office Bldg.
2nd Floor
Conference Rm.
Rensselaer County
Dept. of Health
Preparedness Division
A national network of local groups of volunteers engaging local communities to strengthen public health, reduce vulnerability, build resilience, and improve preparedness, response and
recovery capabilities. Maryfran Wachunas
Public Health Director
Len Claus
Emergency Preparedness
Coordinator
Jennifer Lee
Public Health
Preparedness Trainer
Sal Scecchitano
Public Health Aide
Medical Reserve Corps
Coordinator
1600 Seventh Avenue
Troy NY 12180
(518) 270-2633
(518) 270—2638 (fax)
Next Meeting
MRC QUARTERLY MEETING DATES FOR 2018
GET IT ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW!
Thursday, October 25 (change from previous)
ServNY 2.0 Upgrade Generates Immediate
Need for New Volunteers
For some time, we’ve been doing battle with the state’s “new and improved”
database system of MRC volunteers. Readers of previous issues of this newslet-
ter are most likely aware of the frustrations that has caused. Now that the
changeover deadline has passed, all those members who never claimed their
migrated profiles have been wiped off the database. In the vast majority of
cases, those folks have not been active with the MRC for at least a couple of
years. Nonetheless, it knocks us down from about 200 MRC members in
Rensselaer County to about 85. Among those losses are 38 nurses and several
physicians. It is time to recruit! Spread the word about this very meaningful
avenue of community service with your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.
If you’d like some brochures to hand out, I’d be happy to send you some.
Let’s rebuild the ranks!