Frank Sasso sat quietly in the county freeholders’ chambers on May 8 while the board sang his praises, waiting patiently for his chance to get up and thank them.
Sasso, who serves as Hoboken’s health officer, was elected last week as president of the Hudson Regional Health Commission, a body overseeing much of the county’s health concerns.
“I’ve known Frank for more than 25 years,” said Freeholder Maurice Fitzgibbons. “He was once a member of my staff, and he took command right away. He was always ready to work as a kid, and I’m proud Frank has assumed this position. He has done an exemplary job as the Hoboken health officer, and I think he’ll do a fine job with the county.”
Officers in Hudson Regional do not get paid, and rotate positions as officers every two years. Each municipality has a representative on the commission. Sasso serves as Hoboken’s. Sasso served as vice president during 2001 to 2002.
The HRHC has a paid staff of secretaries, but is operated by the unpaid officers from each town. Usually, the officers are health officials in their town.
“Each [representative] puts in about five to 10 hours a month including meetings.” said Lou Manzo during a telephone interview. Sasso replaces Manzo as president this year. “If a constituent calls with a special issue, we respond.”
During the meeting, Sasso thanked the freeholders for honoring him and told them that the role of public health officials had changed over the last couple of years, partly due to the Sept. 11 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and partly due to the recent outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Disorder).
“The laws governing health departments have drastically changed,” he said.
Health Departments have become key instruments in providing aid as a result of disasters like the attack on the World Trade Center and quarantine against diseases like SARS. Health officials help to house people and provide medical attention during and after disasters, and these departments have the power and responsibility to “quarantine and isolate” suspected outbreaks of disease.
“We have to stay one step ahead of diseases like SARS,” Sasso said.
Sasso, who holds masters degrees from Rutgers University and Jersey City State College, is the highest decorated health officer in the history of New Jersey, according to the freeholders’ resolution. He has been most recently been decorated for his actions as one of two incident commanders on Sept. 11, 2001.
Manzo later said that regional health officers throughout the country became more critical to public safety.
“Under my tenure, we had to deal with bio-terrorism, and Hudson Regional was down on the waterfront on Sept. 11 monitoring air quality,” Manzo said. “Before Sept. 11, we were more concerned with environmental issues, now we’re required to assist the police and fire departments.”
In the aftermath of the World Trade Center, Sasso and his staff handled 10,000 people in Hoboken. This included 2,200 triages, and 469 patients sent to the hospital.
“And I’m proud to say that no life was lost,” he said.
A few months before the attack on the World Trade Center, Sasso came extremely close to dying due to an infection resulting from surgery. He was still recovering on Sept. 11.
Before that, he was decorated by former Gov. Christine Whitman and State Commissioner Len Fishman for his command and supervision of the worst mercury contamination disaster in the United States in Hoboken in 1995.
Sasso, who had three years of training with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Jersey State police, was the only qualified instructor in the county to respond to calls concerning suspicious packages and possible weapons of mass destruction (WMD) between September 22, 2001 and January 5, 2002. He remained on call 24 hours a day seven days a week, and responded to 84 calls during that period, three of which proved to be explosives.
This was during a period in which anthrax was being found in post offices and mailboxes elsewhere in the state and the country. “I was the only one with WMD training,” he said. “Since then, Chief LaBruno has sent men for training.”