More oversight for NJ-run veterans homes | NJ Spotlight News njspotlight.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from njspotlight.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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29 Jun 2021
When veterans began dying of the coronavirus at the New Jersey Veterans Home in Paramus, Alex Saldana, a Scout with Oradell’s Troop 36, wanted to offer his support.
In 2020, each evening for a month the teenager played taps on his trumpet outside the home to honor those who passed away and comfort the other residents, NorthJersey.com reported Saturday.
However, he did not want his support to end there, so when researching for his Eagle Scout project recently, Alex used it as a great opportunity to continue helping the veterans.
“These are people who made a sacrifice for our country and I really wanted to show them that they weren’t forgotten, and people cared about them,” he noted.
Alex Saldana is Oradell Scout who played taps at Paramus veterans home northjersey.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from northjersey.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As COVID ravaged N.J. veterans homes, why were dozens of workers suspended with pay?
Updated Mar 02, 2021;
Posted Feb 25, 2021
Susan Ivanitski, at a candlelight vigil, holds a photo of her husband who died from COVID-19 while a resident at Menlo Park Veterans Memorial Home. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
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As the deadly pandemic swept through New Jersey’s beleaguered veterans homes, the facilities were left dangerously short of help because scores of nurses and others who were sick and or scared did not come to work.
But internal emails obtained by NJ Advance Media show that while administrators were desperately seeking to hire temporary workers, more than two dozen staff members were mysteriously suspended over still-unspecified allegations of abuse or neglect that apparently could not be substantiated. Unable to be fired, they were paid to stay home and told not to come to work.
Credit: Jeff Rhode/Holy Name Medical Center
March 19, 2020: Ranvir Singh, RN, cares for a patient in the intensive care unit at Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck.
Like something from science fiction, 2020 was upended by a minute, spike-crowned virus that spread aggressively among people, caused unprecedented disease and death, and altered the way we do everything from celebrate holidays to vote for president.
The novel coronavirus put immense stress on all our public structures, but the impact was particularly profound for health care systems nationwide and in New Jersey, which was among the first states to diagnose cases of COVID-19 the disease caused by the virus and which remains among those hardest-hit by the pandemic.