Twenty-nine Mercer County residents graduated Medical Reserve Corps training April 17.
The county’s first class of professional medical and non-medical volunteers plan to assist emergency and public health resources, such as the Sheriff’s Office, Office of Emergency Management and Dempster Fire Academy.
Medical Reserve Corps is part of the national Citizen Corps initiative, which aims to prepare individuals for disasters and public health issues. There are about 24 MRC programs in New Jersey.
Volunteers completed eight core MRC training classes, including Family/Personal Preparedness, Disaster Awareness and Psychological First Aid.
The volunteer instructors Jill Dinitz-Sklar, Michele Madiou, Scott Ellis, Vito Vacirca and Chuck McHugh taught the classes.
Mercer County MRC graduates are:
Clara Douglas, Carol Kientz and Yasmeen Mukaddam of East Windsor.
Kieanna Childs-Alexander, Bruce Darvas, Anita Masiello, Rebecca McMillen and David Weidner of Hamilton.
Skye Gilmartin of Hightstown.
Kathy Digaetano, Albert Grupper and Penny Parker of Hopewell.
Maureen Adams, Mary Baird, Anthony Brickman, Carol Nicholas, Hasan Rizvi and Nancy Szilagyi of Lawrenceville.
Jon Caparotta of Monroe.
Antonia Lewis of Pennington
Carol Holzer, Charles McHugh and Connie Poor of Princeton.
Tracy Livingston and Osborn Livingston of Trenton.
Arnold Chen, James Fearon and Tamerra Moeller of West Windsor.
Vito Vacirca from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office.
At the graduation ceremony, Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes told the graduates that MRC volunteers were on hand at the Boston Marathon on April 15 to assist runners who might have suffered fatigue or dehydration, and instead found themselves on the front lines of a terrorist attack that left several people dead and scores with severe injuries.
“While it is sometimes our first inclination to duck and cover, the MRC volunteers in Boston – both medical and non-medical – instead stepped forward,” Hughes said at the ceremony, “their commitment to Boston was heroic. You too have stepped up for a great challenge and now you join the elite ranks of the Medical Reserve Corps.”
More information is online at medicalreservecorps.gov/MrcUnits/UnitDetails/1000.
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