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Elizabeth Morrill

City to Launch Study to Reduce Food Waste

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With technical support from two nonprofit environmental organizations, Jersey City is set to launch a study to identify sources of significant food waste citywide and to recommend strategies for best redistributing large quantities of unused food to the city’s needy.

Jersey City was selected to participate in the project, which is a joint undertaking of the National Resources Defense Council and the Center for Ecotechnology, in 2020. The NRDC will also provide funding.

Said Stacey Flanagan, director of the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services, data from the program “will improve our understanding of food waste areas for HHS and DPW (the Department of Public Works) to focus on, as this is a joint issue. Food that is rescued will go to community agencies, and the rest will get composted to significantly reduce waste.”

Food Matters (the NRDC name of the program) provides municipalities with a step-by-step guide for reducing food waste that begins with quantifying the municipality’s level of food waste and ends with tactics for increasing composting and other forms of food recycling. Along the way, cities learn to set waste reduction goals, improve logistics for getting leftover food from donors to redistributors, and reduce barriers to food donations (such as liability concerns), among other strategies, according to the NRDC.

“Additionally, reducing the tons of waste for hauling translates into quantifiable savings for the municipal budget and taxpayers,” said Kimberly Scalcione, Mayor Fulop’s press secretary.

Scalcione also points out that participating foodservice operators will receive “useful tools and practices to reduce their own costs of refrigeration, water, storage, and waste removal.”

The Times asked Scalcione when the program would start, how much money the NRDC was granting the city for it, and whether these funds were expected to cover the program’s costs. She did not reply.

 

Photo by Engin Akyurt

ShopRite Jersey City
Elizabeth Morrill

ShopRite Makes Dairy Cheaper for SNAP Customers

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ShopRite wants its SNAP customers to eat more healthful dairy products.

The store on Marin Boulevard will be offering high-value coupons for such products when they purchase skim or low-fat milk using their electronic benefit transfer cards. Run by the USDA, SNAP is an acronym for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“Milk is one of our healthiest, safest, and most sustainable beverages, and it is essential for a child’s development,” said Dr. Lori Kanitz, Project Director at the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty,” which runs the incentive program. It “promotes proper child brain and bone development, provides a natural source of protein and reduces the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.” Yet, ninety percent of Americans do not meet the recommended amounts for dairy consumption, she added.

Here’s how the program works: When SNAP customers purchase skim or one-percent milk at participating stores, a dollar paper coupon is generated for every whole dollar spent on the item (or items). Customers may redeem the coupons on future purchases of “any dairy product with cow’s milk or cream from cow’s milk as the first ingredient,” including milk, yogurt and cheese, said Karen O’Shea, a spokeswoman for ShopRite. However, ice cream and “other frozen dairy treats” are excluded from the program, she added.

To participate in the campaign, which is called “Add Milk!” — and which is funded by the USDA — SNAP customers must pay with their EBT cards.

“By taking part in this program we hope to make it easier for families to have access to the foods they need and provide increased stability to those struggling with food insecurity,” said Shoprite spokesperson Karen Meleta.

Shoprite stores in North Bergen, Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, East Orange, Kearny, and Hillside will also run the campaign for one year.

ShopRite is a retailer-owned cooperative based in Keasbey, NJ, and the largest supermarket cooperative in the United States. It serves more than six million customers each week.

Since 1999 the coop has donated approximately $75 million to food banks and other charitable organizations throughout the Northeast.

Jersey City Medical Center
Aaron Morrill

Medical Center to Receive Gun Violence Intervention Funding

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Jersey City Medical Center is one of nine New Jersey hospitals that will be receiving additional funding to work with victims of gun violence.

Made available from $10 million in federal American Recovery Plan funds, the money will go to the Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP), designed to directly help gun violence victims and serve to break the cycle of gun violence.

“As a gun violence survivor, I know the importance of the work,” said Pam Johnson, Executive Director of the Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition. “From a personal standpoint and a professional standpoint, I know that with this investment we can save more lives and do more healing.”

In January 2020, the Murphy Administration and the Attorney General’s Office awarded $20 million in federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) dollars to fund nine HVIPs across New Jersey to reach victims of gun violence and others touched by violence at the time of crisis.

According to Governor Phil Murphy and Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, who together announced today’s funding, the programs are considered by experts and practitioners to be one of the crucial strategies for violence intervention and prevention services.

A primary goal of the HVIP is to link hospitals with community-based organizations that are already working to assist victims and prevent the spread of violence.

By partnering with community organizations to provide services to victims and families in hospitals following a shooting, the program has, according to Murphy and Platkin, shown an ability to reduce the cycle of gun violence when retaliation is most likely to occur and spread.

The initial $20 million VOCA investment along with the additional third year of VOCA funding in HVIP grants were awarded to the following hospitals:

  • Center for Family Services, City of Camden, Camden Count
  • Trinitas Health Foundation, Elizabeth, Union County
  • AtlantiCare Atlantic City, Atlantic County
  • Capital Health, Trenton, Mercer Count
  • Jersey City Medical Center (RWJBarnabas), Jersey City, Hudson County
  • Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick (Serving Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties)
  • University Hospital, Newark, Essex County
  • Jersey Shore University Medical Center/Hackensack Meridian, Monmouth County (Focusing on Asbury Park, Neptune Township and Long Branch City)
  • St. Joseph’s Health, Paterson, Passaic County
Jersey City Medical Center pediatric emergency department
Ron Leir

JC Medical Center Unveils New Pediatric Emergency Room

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Jersey City Medical Center, an affiliate of RWJ Barnabas Health, will soon boast a dedicated pediatric emergency room thanks to a multi-million dollar gift from the Abercrombie Guild, a nonprofit organization founded in Jersey City in 1874 to aid the sick residents of Hudson County.

The new pediatric facility doubles the size of the existing E.R. according to JCMC President and CEO Michael Prilutsky and, he added, “delivers on safety and quality with best-in-class care.”

“When I came here five years ago,” Prilutsky said, “the first thing I heard was ‘we need a new E.R.’… The Guild’s gift now makes this possible.”

Dr. Schubert Perotte, JCMC chair of Emergency Medicine and interim chief medical officer, led visitors on a tour through the new secured pediatric E.R. wing, which is segregated from adult E.R. patients.

Patients first will see a row of intake stations for nurses to document each new arrival and any medications prescribed; a cardiac measurement instrument; and a computerized mobile unit that accompanies the patient as he or she is transported for specialized services such as x-ray or MRI.

Opposite the nursing stations are nine curtained pediatric patient rooms each equipped with a bed and stretcher, medical monitors, and a TV. There is also a slightly larger cubicle dedicated for use as a pediatric isolation unit that has its own bathroom.

While the pediatric wing is designed to hold up to ten children at a time, Dr. Perotte noted that the beds “are constantly cycled” to make room for new arrivals.

Asked the rationale for creating a new wing reserved for the hospital’s youngest patients, Dr. Perotte said: “The Jersey City community is growing, and the need for pediatric services is growing just the same.” While admissions as a whole dipped during the peak of the pandemic, those numbers have begun to rebound more recently, he said.

The medical center has expanded its adult E.R. as well.

Mirroring the layout of the pediatric wing, along a separate corridor, are a series of larger rooms, also curtained, designed to handle adult patients, supplemented by several isolation wards with their individualized nursing stations.

The two emergency rooms total 60,000 square feet, of which 7,530 are pediatric. Dr. Perotte said the hospital plans to utilize existing clinical and housekeeping staff to cover the enlarged E.R.

As the hospital prepares to receive arrivals to the newly created E.R. space, already it is putting into motion what Dr. Perotte calls phase 2 of the hospital’s Emergency Services expansion with the creation of a “psychiatric trauma bay,” which should be ready in about a year.

That, in turn, is to be followed by phase 3, provision of a specialized patient observation unit for the bay to help doctors decide whether to discharge or admit the patients brought into it.

Asked for an overview of the JCMC’s recent action, New Jersey Hospital Association Vice President for Communications and Member Services Kerry McKean Kelly offered this perspective: “One of the trends in emergency department design is the creation of specialized areas for certain populations. The emergency department can be a pretty intense place and these specialized E.D.s (Emergency Departments) are designed with the distinct needs of children, the elderly or other groups in mind.”

Guild representative Victoria Samulski, said the group considers it “an honor and privilege to make this our final donation to aid the youngest, most vulnerable members of the community” as it winds down operations.

The Guild, named for its chief founder, Rev. Richard Abercrombie, has also helped finance the hospital’s women’s health satellite and its infusion center for cancer patients, both in Ward E.

JCMC officials are awaiting a state Department of Health inspection of the new E.R. space before it opens to the public.

 

Photo courtesy of RWJ Barnabas Health

Hudson County Covid Vaccination site
Aaron Morrill

Kids’ Covid Vaccine to be Offered in Hudson County Beginning Tomorrow

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Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and the Hudson County Vaccine Task Force have announced that beginning tomorrow, they will make COVID-19 vaccines for children ages six months and up available free of charge.

Parents can obtain information and begin registering for appointments today here.  Walk-in vaccines will also be available.

County officials are urging residents to make sure that all eligible members of their families get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“The CDC’s approval of vaccines for children six months and older is a huge step forward in our fight to stop the spread of COVID-19 and keep Hudson County healthy,” said County Executive DeGise. “Our Vaccine Task Force has had great success in getting older kids vaccinated, and we are ready to hit the ground running to make sure that we are able to vaccinate as many children in this newly eligible age group as possible.”

“It is so important that parents of newly eligible children bring them in to get vaccinated,” said Carrie Nawrocki, Executive Director of Hudson Regional Health Commission. “As Hudson County continues to work to make the transition back to in-person learning and work, getting our community’s young people protected will make a big difference in ensuring that we are able to keep everyone healthy and stop the spread of COVID-19.”

The Hudson County Vaccine Distribution Center is also continuing to offer free vaccines and booster shots to all eligible groups at the Hudson County Vaccine Distribution Center in Kearny, and recommends that anyone who hasn’t yet been vaccinated do so.

Leslie Taylor of Bordentown
Dana DiFilippo

New Law Would Promote “Healthy Soil” in Urban Gardens

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Republished courtesy of New Jersey Monitor

Three years ago, Leslie Taylor knew nothing about gardening. Now she knows to plant marigolds to ward off bugs, rotate her crops to keep the soil healthy, and wait a few years to pick asparagus after planting it to ensure a bountiful harvest.

Taylor learned that and more through an incubator gardening program at Isles, a Trenton-based nonprofit with a mission of fostering self-sufficient families and healthy communities.

It’s the kind of sustainability mission two New Jersey lawmakers say they want to support with a new bill that would fund soil testing of urban agriculture sites.

The bipartisan bill, introduced by Assemblymen Herb Conaway (D-Burlington) and Ronald Dancer (R-Ocean), would establish a grant program in the state Department of Agriculture to ensure people are using healthy soil when they plant gardens or community farming plots in vacant lots and parks.

Elevated levels of lead or other contaminants are commonly found in urban soil due to the past uses of the sites, Conaway noted.

“Healthy soil is the foundation of producing sustainable agriculture and optimizing our land in New Jersey,” he said. “Soil testing and conservation methods will improve the safety and quality of our food supply and sustain the environment.”

The bill is now before the Assembly’s agriculture and food security committee.

This is not the first time lawmakers have set their sights on soil.

In 2017, the State Commission on Investigation, an independent watchdog group, issued a report warning that loopholes in the state’s solid‐waste regulatory and oversight system allowed operators to secretly dump contaminated soil and construction debris at unpermitted sites, creating serious environmental and public health threats.

Lawmakers subsequently passed what they called the “Dirty Dirt Law” in 2020 to close those loopholes and impose stringent compliance requirements in the solid waste industry to thwart illegal dumping and soil contamination.

From dirt to lead remediation to entrepreneurship

To Dancer, the new bill goes several steps further. Ensuring healthy soil will encourage urban farming, and urban farming can alleviate food insecurity and catalyze community revitalization, he said.

“In the urban areas, we have what we call food deserts, where we have no supermarkets. If they’re not going to build supermarkets, well, we can turn an abandoned lot into a farming plot,” Dancer said. “So rather than have a blighted neighborhood, we could have a flourishing neighborhood.”

Sean Jackson is the CEO at Isles, which has a free program to teach people how to farm, start their own gardens, and test soil for contaminants. It now supports about 70 community, school, backyard, and institutional gardens and 200 community gardeners.

Urban agriculture’s benefits go beyond fresh produce and blight-busting, Jackson said — it helps bring neighborhood residents together.

And that kind of community-building can serve as “training wheels” for other advocacy, mobilizing residents to act as a neighborhood watch or bring concerns about illegal dumping, flooding, or other neighborhood challenges to their elected officials for action, he said.

School gardens help students learn about healthy eating, Jackson added.

Urban gardens also foster giving, when harvests yield more than one farmer can eat, said Jim Simon, Isles’ deputy director of community planning.

Baby Bottle
Jayne Freeman

Bette Midler Bombs on Breastfeeding

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“Try Breastfeeding!” what’s wrong with that?

 

In reaction to the formula shortage crisis, on May 12 actor and singer Bette Midler tweeted, “TRY BREASTFEEDING! It’s free and available on demand.” Within seconds, the world of formula-feeding parents went crazy.

Was she suggesting that new mothers desperate for formula should be able to breastfeed as though lactating instantly was something you could get your body to do through sheer force of will?

Or was Midler really just scolding and saying I told you so, if you had breastfed from the get-go, you wouldn’t be in this terrible predicament? Nice.

Maybe the Divine Miss M intended to offer a piece of sage advice: Try breastfeeding when you give birth so you won’t have to worry about scouring ebay for off-brand formula.

Yet, that doesn’t make sense either because pregnant women are not the ones scrambling for formula. And anyway, according to the Centers for Disease Control, over 80 percent of new mothers in the U.S. do try breastfeeding (up from 33 percent in the 1970s).

An outcry ensued. Even former Trump advisor Stephen Miller, not exactly known for sensitivity, took Midler to task.

Walking back her original comment, Midler tweeted back, “No shame if you can’t breastfeed, but if you can and are somehow convinced that your own milk isn’t as good as ‘scientifically researched product,’ that’s something else again #wetnurses.”

Tweets re Bette MidlerThat’s what she really meant?  That women who were sitting around fretting that their breastmilk wasn’t as good as formula needed her reassurance that it was? And “wet nurses?” Okay … it’s “Game of Thrones” time, I suppose, because wet nurses (lactating women who breastfeed the babies of women who can’t) died out a long time ago.

Bette Midler gave birth to her daughter, Sophie, in 1986 when new mothers were discouraged to breastfeed and formula companies were allowed to be pushy in hospitals by putting advertisements in infant basinets. They also provided loads of free samples for mom to go home with. This messaging, combined with a lack of support for breastfeeding from hospital staff, did not promote breastfeeding; to the contrary, it  promoted formula.

“In the 70s and 80s women had to fight hard to be able to breastfeed,” says Hoboken-based lactation consultant Carmen Baker. “They were being discouraged by their OBs and pediatricians. It was just something people didn’t do. If you did, you were regarded as a hippie.”

Carmen is an international board-certified lactation consultant, a designation that did not exist until the 1990s in a field still relatively fringe until the 2010s.

As a postpartum doula who specializes in preventing mood disorders, I know that challenges with breastfeeding can contribute to a mother’s depression and anxiety. So does judgment. Those who chimed in and agreed with Midler’s flippant remark were met with passionate disagreement and fury. It’s no wonder it made many formula-feeding parents indignant. Already in crisis, unable to find the essential nutrition for their babies, these parents are now subject to the offensive assumption that they could have done “what just comes naturally.”

But breastfeeding doesn’t come naturally to every new mom nor is it the right choice for everyone. It’s not an option for adoptive parents. It’s not an option for breast cancer survivors. It’s not an option for women taking certain medications.

It also disregards the fact that many women who use formula did initially (and valiantly) try to breastfeed through bleeding nipples, sleepless nights, overwhelming anxiety, and low breast-milk supply. They sought advice from experts, tried supplements, drank special teas, and went to great extremes in order to do what “is free and available on demand.” If all those efforts eventually led to formula feeding, it feels like a kick to the gut when someone judges that decision.

What about all the parents who didn’t have a medical or “justified” reason not to breastfeed? When did it become acceptable for others to criticize them for being too “lazy” or “uncommitted”? Since 2010, the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the U.S. surgeon general have all identified breastfeeding as “a public health issue.” That prompted the flood of public opinion to come crashing through.

Today’s parents are subject to shame and judgment by our culture at large because breastfeeding is not considered a personal lifestyle choice anymore. Midler’s “Try breastfeeding!” carries the same tone of superiority as the admonition obese people often hear to “Try dieting!”

We don’t know what led that person to become obese. One could have an endocrine imbalance or unresolved childhood trauma. But as part of a morally evolved culture, we should have the decency not to ridicule others about their condition or appearance. Seems as though criticism of those who formula feed remains the final frontier of shaming.

In this regard Ms. Midler is not entirely out of sync with our country’s general disconnect over women’s health issues. Major influencers like the WHO and the AAP state that women should breastfeed exclusively for at least six months right after childbirth, yet America still lacks a maternal leave policy consistent with that recommendation.

But problems for women don’t end there. “Breast is Best” is well intentioned, but it prioritizes the baby over the parent, and it makes the health and well-being of infants fair game at the water cooler but not the health and well-being of new mothers. This has got to stop. The pendulum has swung too far. It’s time we balance everyone’s needs when a baby is born and ask, ‘What is best for this family?’

Jersey City Medical Center
Jersey City Times Staff

Medical Center Holds Emergency Blood Drive to Address Low Supply

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Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) will hold an emergency blood drive on Wednesday, May 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ambulatory Surgery Center, located at 377 Jersey Ave Suite 510 in Jersey City.

According to JCMC, the blood supply has reached a dangerously low level.

“The need for blood products never stops, and lately that need has been outpacing the number of blood donors.  We rely on the generosity of blood donors to address the serious ongoing blood shortage, so that we can continue to deliver lifesaving medical care for patients in need,” said Michael Loftus, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Jersey City Medical Center.

Donors must be at least 16-years old (minors under 18 need parental permission) and weigh at least 110 pounds if older than 16. Donors must also present photo identification at the time of donation.

Donors are advised to eat and drink before donating.

Those ineligible to donate include individuals who have a history of viral hepatitis at age 11 or older, are recovering from an infectious illness, or are in a high-risk group (e.g., individuals with HIV or AIDS).

For more information, visit Blood Donation in New Jersey – RWJBarnabas Health (rwjbh.org).

 

Anjali Minocha of Jersey City
Andrea Crowley-Hughes

Local Girl Teams up With Grocery Store To Battle Pediatric Cancer

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“Keep the change.” That short phrase, which often makes one feel generous and easy going, can do even more good this month, say the Minochas of Jersey City. From now through April 30, customers in the tri-state area can “round up” their purchases—or donate $1, $3 or $5 at checkout—to benefit MSK Kids, the pediatric program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, when they visit Stop & Shop, including the location at 232 Central Ave. in Jersey City.

The Minochas should know. Their three-year-old daughter, Anjali, is serving as this year’s ambassador for the annual campaign. Anjali is now cancer-free thanks to treatment she received last year for neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system, at  MSK Kids in New York City.

Neuroblastoma is often silent until it reaches an advanced stage, but Anjali had a rare case enabling doctors to spot her tumor before it spread and to remove it surgically, Anjali’s mother, Kimberly Minocha, explained.

Anjali began her treatment at MSK after emergency room doctors found a mass in her stomach.

“It was a large tumor that had developed on her adrenal gland,” Minocha said.

Within a week, Anjali underwent a 10-hour resection surgery to remove the tumor, followed by four rounds of high-dose chemo radiation immunotherapy.

“We’ve spent pretty much all of 2021 in the hospital with treatments and are forever thankful for being so close to Sloan, one of the world’s renowned hospitals for treating neuroblastoma but also for campaigns like this where we’re able to fund research and give back to the hospital,” Minocha said.

The funding is sorely needed. Parents like the Minochas are intimately familiar with how little federal funding goes toward researching childhood cancers.

According to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, “only four percent of the billions of dollars the government spends annually on cancer research is directed toward treating childhood cancer.”

The Minocha family of Jersey City

The Minochas

The Minocha family is hoping some of that pediatric research—namely a three-year vaccine program through a Memorial Sloan Kettering research trial—can keep Anjali in remission.

“Sloan has a research trial that’s going on, which is where a lot of the money that Stop & Shop collects helps to fund,” Minocha said. “It’s 10 vaccines over three years to try to prevent relapse.”

Minocha sees participating in the Help Cure Childhood Cancer campaign as a way to help other children and families needing safe treatment and innovative research.

Since the grocery chain’s partnership with the hospital began more than two decades ago, Stop & Shop has donated more than $26 million to pediatric cancer research at MSK Kids, according to a statement.

“Stop & Shop’s continued support of MSK Kids over the last 21 years is unmatched,“ Dr. Paul A. Meyers, vice chair of the pediatrics department at Memorial Sloan Kettering, said. “The generosity of the entire Stop & Shop community allows us to bring better, less toxic treatments to children and young adults facing a cancer diagnosis.”

“The goal of this campaign is to ensure that families at Memorial Sloan Kettering receive the best care possible for their children, and year after year, our customers step up and do just that,” said Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid.

Covid Testing Truck
Ron Leir

One Man’s Seven Day Wait for Covid Test Results

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As the end-of-year holidays approached, many Jersey City residents rushed to get tested for Covid-19 before joining family celebrations or job-related assignments. Or perhaps they were just nervous about Omicron’s contagiousness.

For a few, getting tested and learning the results went smoothly; for many others, however, the process was frustrating at best, useless at worst.

Permit me to offer up my own odyssey toward the still-elusive goal of getting from point A (the test) to point B (the results).

Since I live within easy walking distance of Journal Square where, I learned from Jersey City’s website, I’d find one of several city-sponsored rapid testing sites, I proceeded to hike over one afternoon last week.

Reaching my designation, I found myself at the back of a line of perhaps 25 people waiting patiently, unprotected against the elements, and in the cold (mid-30s with a biting wind) to be called into a small trailer staffed by a single technician.

The staffer — herself unprotected from the elements since the trailer door remained open — was tasked with checking each client’s ID and health insurance, feeding the data into a computer, and then preparing and administering a nasal swab for the client.

After spending about an hour in the line and having moved ahead only minimally while my body ached and my feet became numb, I reluctantly gave up and headed home.

The next day, resolved to be more steadfast, I returned to the trailer site. This time I arrived about 45 minutes after it opened and was the 15th or so person in line.

Weather conditions were much the same, and one couple ahead of me was periodically dancing, first together, then stamping separately, in an effort to stay warm.  I tried not to think of the elements and to just focus on achieving my goal.

Remarkably, no one in line cursed out the city or griped to the lone trailer staffer (the same person as the day prior) about having to stand in the freezing cold although one woman wondered why no one had considered at least accommodations for the elderly or infirm.

While we were waiting, a man suddenly approached the line and invited us to come with him to a nearby location to get tested right away. When asked to produce some form of official ID, he said he had none, producing only his driver’s license and a business card for a tax accounting business he claimed to run.

The city’s web Covid-19 web page warns residents against just such potentially fraudulent “pop-up” testing sites (and recommends anyone suspicious about such sites to call Health & Human Services).

Meanwhile, our line was moving forward. Slowly but, nonetheless, moving. That was good enough for me.

But something was awry. Yes, a posting outside the trailer which, the day before, had promised test results within 24 hours was gone. And, after about an hour’s wait, when I finally reached the trailer door for my swab, I learned why:  The lab contracted to perform the analysis was now taking 72 hours to process each swab, and now the results would be mailed to me, the technician told me.

Seems that the lab staff had been overwhelmed by the volume of samples being sent them, the technician said.

Fair enough, I supposed.  And, with that, home I trudged.

Today will mark my seventh day of waiting for those findings which, if they come at all, will be hopelessly out of date.

I called Jersey City’s Health & Human Services Department to ask about the situation and was routed to the “Covid crisis manager,” who promptly told me I wasn’t alone in reporting a lag time but said it was out of the city’s hands and that only the lab itself, run by Prestige Health, could advise me.

So, I called them, got connected to a recorded voice which prompted me to “press 3” to speak to someone about “COVID-related issues” and was promptly disconnected.  Several repeated efforts on different days all ended the same way.

What to do? Try another of the city-sanctioned testing sites, suggested my city contact. Or, he said, try an independent tester or get a home testing unit.

So far, I’m waiting it out. And so are many of my neighbors.

On NextDoor, two people ‑ Johann Lamrissi, of the Powerhouse Arts Distric, Gigi Gazon, of Bergen-Lafayete — said they waited 11 days to get results from a free outdoor testing site on Grove Street.

Kim Powell, of Van Vorst Park, griped about her experience using a “pop-up” testing place near the Acme market by the Holland Tunnel. After “waiting for hours,” she said she paid for a rapid test, the results of which she was still waiting for 19 hours later.

Jersey City residents experiencing delays are not alone. It’s a problem throughout the metro area.

Aware of the problem, Health & Human Services Director Stacey Flanagan and Maryanne Kelleher, director of Partnership for a Healthier JC, said the city is taking these steps:

  • Working with Fusion Labs to extend hours to 6:30 p.m. for Covid testing at the Bethune Center, 140 Martin Luther King Drive, on Dec. 29 and 30.
  • Arranging for Fusion Labs to add staff and “enhanced intake technology” at the Bethune Center, at the city’s Public Safety headquarters on Marin Boulevard, at 546 West Side Ave., and 725 Rt. 440.
  • Adding three walk-in testing sites, through Dec. 30 only, for persons ages 3 and up. These are: the Maureen Collier Senior Center, 335 Bergen Ave., 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; the Joseph Connors Senior Center, 28 Paterson St., 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Public School 26, 164 Laidlaw Ave., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Turnaround time for results is “ASAP but may be impacted by demand.” A PCR test will be administered via Alliance Labs.

Meanwhile, Hudson County, in partnership with the state, announced it has opened two new vaccination sites: one in the multipurpose center in Stephen R. Gregg Park in Bayonne and the other in the boathouse in Braddock Park in North Bergen. The Gregg Park site will be open Thursday through Saturday, 2 to 7 p.m.; Braddock’s hours will be Sunday through Tuesday, also 2 to 7 p.m. In addition, the county is still offering free vaccines and boosters continue at its drive-thru center in Kearny.

The New Jersey Department of Health says testing is available at more than 100 sites statewide. Or, to order a free test kit, DOH recommends visiting Vault Health, where results are reportedly available 24 to 48 hours after a sample arrives at a lab.