Borough Honors Ambulance, OEM Response to Sandy

Ramsey borough officials gathered last week to say thanks to a group of volunteers who they say helped get residents through Hurricane Sandy and her aftermath.

Mayor Chris Botta and the borough council thanked members of Ramsey’s Ambulance Corps and Office of Emergency Management last Wednesday with a ceremony and certificate presentation.

“You have the thanks of the entire community for everything you did,” Botta told a crowd of volunteers. “You don’t get to practice an event like we had, and you stepped up, and handled it with grace under pressure.”

According to Ambulance Corps Captain Mike Migliaccio, his crew spent over 2,100 hours responding to Sandy-related emergencies, and manning an impromptu medical center the Corps set up at Dater School. Borough officials commended the department for its work at Dater, which they said became not only a haven for residents who were medically at risk after the storm, but a place of community support.

OEM Coordinator Ralph Venturini thanked all of the other emergency responders in town and the Department of Public Works, for helping carry out OEM’s coordination of the Sandy response. OEM, he said, is still working to get FEMA reimbursement money to help cover Sandy response costs.

Wednesday’s ceremony was the third in a string the borough is hosting to thank Sandy responders. The first was to the members of the Ramsey Police Department, and the second was to the Ramsey Fire Department.

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