Press Release

August 3, 2006
Contact: Jerry Carey
Phone: (856) 566-6171
careyge@umdnj.edu

Conference Targets Emergency Preparedness in Hispanic Communities

NEW BRUNSWICK — The New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health is hosting a one-day conference, “¿Estas Preparado: Ayudando la Comunidad en Tiempos de Desastres” (“Are You Prepared: Helping the Community in Times of Disaster”) on Thursday, August 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Brookdale Community College Student Life Center in Lincroft, NJ.

During the program, leaders from Hispanic communities in New Jersey and public health professionals will work towards preparing New Jersey Hispanic communities in times of an emergency. The conference brings together public health professionals and representatives from Hispanic communities to identify preparedness strategies and resources for public health emergencies.

The program features two keynote speakers: Luis Valentin, current Monmouth County prosecutor and the state's first prosecutor of Hispanic lineage, and Jay Jimenez, chief of staff at the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of the Commissioner. Plenary sessions will discuss barriers and disparities to prioritizing emergency preparedness, preparedness strategies for the home and families, and psychological aspects of a disaster.

Invited participants include home health aides, social workers, leaders of faith group communities, nurses who work with Hispanic communities, representatives from community based organizations and public health professionals.

To register for the conference or for more information visit http://www.njcphp.org/ or contact Phil McCabe at 732-235-8229, mccabept@umdnj.edu or Concetta Caporrino at 732-235-4958, caporrco@umdnj.edu at the NJ Center for Public Health Preparedness.

The New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness at UMDNJ, based in the UMDNJ-School of Public Health, was established in 2003 and is part of the network of centers for public health preparedness funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.