Pike Townships Tackle EMS Issues

WESTFALL — Officials from the nearby fire departments and local municipal officials attended a meeting on October 3rd to discuss what they could do to tackle the EMS shortage.
Hosted by Westfall Township, the representatives heard from Dingman, Milford and Westfall Fire Departments about the challenges the departments have faced over the past few years, culminating in major issues after the loss of Atlantic's advanced life support (ALS) services. Milford Fire Department representative Mike Bello said his department struggles to deploy during the workweek as they don't have the available volunteers in the area.
Volunteer fire departments across the nation are struggling to recruit volunteers, and those volunteers are struggling to pass the national certification test. Milford Borough Council Member Annette Haar said approximately 80% of the people who attempt the computerized national certification test fail. The EMT training alone costs around $1,100 and involves upwards of 180 hours, which drives away volunteers.
Assuming the departments found enough volunteers, training still can take upwards of a year to complete. The municipal leaders decided to consider stopgap measures for the immediate future.
Dingman Supervisor Thomas Mincer said when Atlantic left the region they said they were struggling to keep afloat in Pike County. Mincer suggested that a small half mill tax across the seven municipalities might be enough to entice a regional ALS service back into the area.
The increased coverage from ALS services together with the Fire Departments should be able to handle the volume of calls in the region.
Paid EMS services tend to make the volunteer shortage even worse, according to several members at the meeting. The attendees expressed concern that using a paid service as a stopgap measure could worsen the volunteer shortage.
Westfall Township officials said they approached Senator Lisa Baker about the EMS issue and she is willing to sponsor a bill to allow municipalities to enact a per parcel tax of $50-60 to fund EMS programs. Townships officials were skeptical of how long a bill would take to be enacted. .......For more information pick up a copy at a local vendor or subscribe.

Injured Hawk Rescued

In Milford

By Catherine Peacock

MILFORD — It appeared, at first glance, to be a woodchuck slowly making its way through the tall grass on a recent rainy October morning. But it wasn't. It was a bird – a red-tailed hawk.
These magnificent creatures are among the most common of all raptors, with a range from as far north as Alaska to the south as far as Panama. Here in Milford, they soar in the sky, drifting on wind currents, searching for their preferred prey: small mammals and birds.
It was abundantly clear this one was injured in some way. The homeowner who discovered the hawk on Bennett Avenue in Milford placed a quick call to the Delaware Valley Raptor Center, resulting in a visit by Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator Jan Lucciola.
A 30-years' veteran of animal rescue, she immediately assessed the bird. It was starved, she noted, and very dehydrated. The nature of its injury was not clear, but Lucciola determined the bird had been hurt for at least a few days. Immediately upon giving the bird fluids, she drove it to their facility for further care. .....For more information pick up a copy at a local vendor or subscribe.

Headliner Packs Punch In Movies, Real Life

By Jessica Cohen

MILFORD — Actress Jane Alexander recently recalled her "charged" relationship with James Earl Jones in "Great White Hope." He played a champion boxer and she his lover, first at the Arena Theater in Washington, D.C., then on Broadway, then in a film production in the late '60's, winning Tony Awards and Oscar nominations.
"He was a very attractive man," Alexander said of Jones.
But the relationship was "charged" in other ways, according to Alexander, who will be at the Black Bear Film Festival screening of "Great White Hope" to discuss that role and others.
Before she took the role, she thought she was headed for performing theater classics: Shakespeare, Chekhov and Ibsen, she said. She was unprepared for the way enthusiastic white audiences gave way to derisive black audiences, who laughed when James Earl Jones carried her away after the character she played committed suicide. But Alexander understood.
"I'd caused all these problems for him," she said of her character. "Without me, he'd still be the heavyweight champ."
Jones was the first black male lead on Broadway in a show that was a drama, not a musical or comedy, at a volatile moment in race relations, said Alexander.
"It was cataclysmic in race relations to play a mixed race couple in bed together at the height of the black power movement. It was scary. I got death threats from bigots. I was anxious a lot. But I was empathetic with the black power movement and wanted to be part of it," she said.
Since then, her dramatic roles have been diverse, but with a common thread.
"I'm often involved with projects that address issues that reverberate with the times," she said. "I've felt fortunate that those roles came to me."
They include three more Oscar-nominated performances. In "All the Presidents' Men," she played a key source for the Watergate investigations; in "Kramer vs. Kramer," she provided insights about the evolution of a divorcing couple, whose friend she played; and in "Testament," she was a mother anchoring her family amid nuclear disaster.
Critic Roger Ebert said he cried. "The last scene, in which [Alexander] expresses such small optimism as is still possible, is one of the most powerful movie scenes I've ever seen," he wrote. She won Emmy Awards for roles in "Playing for Time," about musicians in Auschwitz, and "Warm Springs," where she played Franklin Roosevelt's mother. Among her eight Emmy nominated roles was her evocation of Eleanor Roosevelt in "Eleanor and Franklin."
"After that role, people suggested I run for office, beginning with local politics," Alexander recalled. "I had dramatic authority by then, and people thought it would translate. Cynthia Nixon played Eleanor too. It's such an incredible role with her love of humanity. It gives us an aura of capability."
However, she says she was surprised when President Bill Clinton chose her from a list of 40 to head the National Endowment for the Arts in 1993.
"I think they wanted someone with no problem defending the First Amendment," she said.
By the time she stepped down in 1997 to return to acting, she had investigated and made a case for the role arts play locally by touring the country. She fended off efforts to close down the NEA and left it with a $98 million budget.
Alexander attributes her fluidity between diverse roles to awareness of inner complexity.
"We all have everyone inside us and go with one facet or another," she said. "It's problem solving with others, interactive exploration. Most actors love rehearsal more than anything."
She delighted in playing gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in "Malice in Wonderland," because Louella Parsons, her rival, was played by Elizabeth Taylor.
"It's all-consuming work, honing and discovering facets," she said......For more information pick up a copy at a local vendor or subscribe.

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