Hoboken mayor appoints swine flu task force

Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer is coordinating efforts among the city, Board of Education, police and fire, and Stevens Institute of Technology to be prepared should the dreaded H1N1 “swine” flu reappear when the weather turns colder this year.
She has also appointed Dr. Jonathan Metsch, the former president of Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC), to the Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) Surge Task Force. Metsch appears as a “community representative,” according to a press release. He is active in Hoboken Revolt, a local taxpayers group that claims to be nonpartisan, but has had many Zimmer-backers.
Metsch was criticized during his tenure at JCMC for making more than $800,000 while the hospital languished in debt. He left JCMC amid budget turmoil after he was forced to produce an audit to parent company Liberty Health that showed a monthly loss of $3 million.
Below is the press release:

“I would rather be proactive and consider various scenarios for Novel H1N1(Swine Flu) and be over prepared, than wait and see what happens and play catch up,” said Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, as she appointed a Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) Surge Task to start work immediately.
Mayor Zimmer’s charge to the Task Force is to “Identify and use ‘Best Practices’ to develop and implement a Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) Surge contingency plan for Hoboken.
Health Officer Frank Sasso and Director of Health and Human Services Terry LaBruno will head the Task Force which will also include representatives from the Office of Emergency Management, the HPD and HFD, and public school representatives. Other members will be from Hoboken University Medical Center, the Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Stevens Institute of Technology.
Mayor Zimmer has asked Hoboken resident Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H., former President and CEO of LibertyHealth/Jersey City Medical Center for seventeen years, to serve as a community representative on the Task Force.
Some of the agenda items on the preliminary Task Force Work Plan include:
– Defining an appropriate Incident Command structure
– Setting up flu vaccine sites and following federal priority vaccination guidelines
– Selecting off-site screening center so the hospital ER is not on overload
– Establishing a back-up plan if the hospital is full and/or staff is short due to the flu
– Assessing EMS capability and capacity and making certain a “mutual assist” plan is in place
– Reviewing back-up Public Safety plans if HPD and HFD ranks get depleted by the flu
– Following federal guidelines in deciding whether or not to close schools, including private schools.
– Monitoring retail food establishments and other places where safety guidelines need to be enforced such as staff hand-washing and sending home staff with flu symptoms.
– Educating the community so individuals with the flu keep clear of those at high risk such as young children and pregnant women.
“The Task Force will track guidelines issued almost daily by the New Jersey Department of Health and the CDC,” Mayor Zimmer said. “We are assuming there may be a flu surge soon after schools reopen and we already know that a Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccine will not be available until mid-October and may be too late to provide effective immunity. Hoboken will continue to strengthen its existing preparedness plans, specifically its pandemic plan, as we strive to protect the health of those that live and work in Hoboken.” — TJC

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