Grants, Bears, Mosquitos, Heat, Homeless & More in South Orange Health Department Update

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Health Officer Candice Davenport began her report by thanking the town council for considering resolutions that enable the Health Department to obtain two grants. She shared, “One from the state health department and one from the New Jersey Association for city and county health officials for various grants that will help us to strengthen and sustain the local public health infrastructure and our capacity to provide local health department coverage for South Orange.”

During the July 22 town council meeting, Davenport spoke about topical health and safety issues. She mentioned the black bears that have been seen in the South Mountain Reservation and throughout Essex County this year. She advised, “The NJDEP [NJ Department of Environmental Protection] has said that because we live by the reservation, there will be black bears who will be curious about us, especially if they can smell strong odors that might come from people's garbage.” Davenport added, “If they’re not causing a specific problem, they should be left alone. Most times they are weary of humans.”

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She noted that if a bear is aggressive, residents can call the Wildlife Control Unit of NJDEP, Division of Fish and Wildlife at (908) 735-8793 or the South Orange Police Department non-emergency phone number (973) 378-7799 on evenings and weekends or the New Jersey DEP hotline, (877) WARN-DEP.

Davenport addressed mosquito spraying. “Essex County Mosquito Control sprays when there is an increased number of mosquitoes after they've done testing throughout the county, and they identify places where there are mosquitoes that have the West Nile virus.” She stated that it’s meant to reduce the amount of mosquitoes that spread diseases. They conduct spraying throughout the county in certain areas. To find out what the schedule for overnight mosquito spring treatment is or for more information, contact the Essex County Mosquito Control program at (973) 239-0342 .

She also reported that State Health Department and the State NJDEP have created a Heat Hub with information about extreme heat, as well as their Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping called Chill Out with nearby cooling centers. It’s in English and Spanish and also available as an app.

Regarding animals, Davenport reminded attendees not to leave dogs (or anyone) in hot cars. She mentioned that they can have heat stroke.

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She also announced that the Annual Health Fair Community Day will be September 21 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in South Orange’s Meadowland Park.

In other positive news, Davenport said that the South Orange Health Dashboard has gone live. It’s on cityhealthdashboard.com . You input South Orange Village Township to reach this webpage with an assortment of health information.

Miscellaneous items included that there was only one case of COVID  last month. Children’s vaccinations are available through a free program for underinsured and those in need. Davenport asked people to please keep their dogs on leash because there were four dog bites in June.

She presented the “Make The Right Call” graphic with different emergency numbers (see above).

Mayor Sheena Collum asked Davenport to explain the protocol of helping a homeless person. Davenport commented, “Pretty much in every community throughout Essex County and New Jersey, you're seeing an increase in homeless individuals.” She said that South Orange is fortunate to have a contract with the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris, which provides full time crisis intervention.

“A social worker can co-respond with your first responders, and you get the services of their PATH Program, which is like a pathway to transition from homelessness.” Davenport noted that the PATH Program is a countywide program in which a social worker will speak to an unhoused person if a resident reports where they saw them and when.

Davenport spoke of one person who lost their home due to losing their health insurance and her ability to stay in the facility where they lived. PATH was able to resolve the situation. She mentioned that the crisis intervention social worker works with the police department, and because the police department is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, residents can call the non-emergency number anytime, and a social worker will respond once he or she is on shift.

Town council member Julie Doran praised Davenport, “I just want to thank our health officer. As she mentioned, there's two resolutions on tonight for grants. Candice has done extraordinary work getting grants for our health department, which is really wonderful and helps us increase our programming efforts to our residents. So thank you.”

Collum agreed, “Health Officer Davenport, really exceptional work. The expanded scope and services we're able to provide [due to] your diligence and finding and securing financial resources for us to do it.” She added, “It’s really outstanding. So you're just terrific. You're such a godsend to this community. You're so responsive. Thank you for all of that. I mean, it's just really amazing.”

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