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Culture Lifestyle Special/Sponsored Content

Call for entries: New Jersey Photography Forum 29th International Juried Photography Exhibit

The 29th Juried Photography Exhibit of the New Jersey Photography Forum at the Watchung Arts Center in Watchung, N.J. invites international and U.S.-based photographers to submit photographs  for exhibition from Nov. 1, 2023 through Dec. 3, 2023.

The images from the exhibit will also be shown in a virtual exhibit featured on the N.J. Photography Forum’s website.

In the more than twenty-five years since its founding, this exhibition has become one of the most important annual juried photography exhibitions in the Metropolitan area. The prospectus for the show is available on the NJPF website at New Jersey Photography Forum/Upcoming Exhibits (njphotoforum.com) Submissions for the exhibit will be accepted up to midnight EST July 14, 2023.

The cost for entry is $20 for every two photographs entered. There is no limit to the number of entries and no theme. There will be cash awards for Excellence and Merit as determined by the juror scores.

The public is invited to attend an online conference moderated by the curators, Nancy Ori and Mitchell Speert, to review the exhibit and to interview several of the artists on Nov. 18, 2023 at 3-5 pm EST. There will also be an opening reception and Holiday Art Fair on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, from 1-4 pm EST at the Watchung Arts Center located at 18 Stirling Road in Watchung, N.J. Wine and snacks will be served.

All the exhibit images will be for sale with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Watchung Arts Center.

The jurors for the show are: Margarita Mavromichalis, award-winning Greek photojournalist and street photographer currently living in Japan, international fine art photography exhibitor; Nancy Ori, exhibitor, curator, author, photographer & educator, director of N.J. Photography Forum and Digital Arts Group, owner of N.J. Media Center in Berkeley Hts; Simon R. Leach, UK lifestyle and environment photographer, juror of international photographic competitions, assessor and chair for the Royal Photographic Society Distinctions, member and past president of the Association of Photographers.

Four years ago, The New Jersey Photography Forum celebrated the 25thanniversary of its founding. The NJPF is dedicated to furthering the interests of professional and serious photographers living or working in the New Jersey area. Over the past 29 years under the direction of Nancy Ori, the NJPF has become the largest and most recognized group of fine art exhibiting photographers in the state.

The Forum monthly meetings alternate between virtual using Zoom and in-person meetings at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in Summit. At the meetings, attendees are encouraged to share expertise and advance their skills. The meetings provide access to a wide variety of current creative and technical information through informal presentations and demonstrations by manufacturers and photographic artists. At each meeting, photographers have an opportunity to show their work for critique by others. Exhibition possibilities within the Metro area fine art community are constantly explored, and the group historically has produced as many as a dozen group exhibits each year at various venues. These opportunities have become an invaluable resource for photographers interested in becoming fine art exhibitors.

 The Watchung Arts Center offers new art exhibitions each month, performances of music, comedy, improv and classes for children and adults in art, photography, dance, yoga, and more. Visit their website at www.watchungarts.org.

You can learn more about the New Jersey Photography Forum by visiting their web site at: www.njphotoforum.com or calling Nancy Ori at 908-790-8820.

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Healthcare Lifestyle Regulations & Security Science

FDA seeks to solve clinical trial delays by accelerating patient recruitment

The entire research, development, and approval process of a new drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can range between 12 to 15 years.

 

Drug companies seeking to sell a drug in the U.S. must first test it and then send it to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), following which a team of CDER physicians, statisticians, chemists, pharmacologists, and other scientists reviews the company’s data and proposed labeling, and subsequently approves the drug if the benefits outweigh the risks. After approval, the researcher can begin clinical trials on volunteers.

 

Phase 1 trials determine medication safety and dosing in 20-100 individuals, while Phase 2 trials assess safety and performance in several hundred individuals. Phase 3 trials further assess safety, performance, and side effects in 300-3,000 individuals. Only about 25% of medications move forward in the FDA approval process after Phase 3 trials.

 

“There are several persistent challenges and pitfalls in bringing new drugs to the market. For proper planning and risk mitigation, the clinical trial operational strategy needs to begin six to nine months before the trial begins. It needs to be a front-loaded effort to minimize the biggest risk factors first,” says Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, Founder and CEO of Jeeva Informatics, a company that specializes in significantly accelerating the process of bringing new medicines or vaccines to patients who need them.

 

Based on studies, patient recruitment issues are the cause of 85% of clinical trial delays, with 80% of trials being delayed by at least a month. Each day of delay potentially costs between $600,000 and $8 million in lost revenues.

 

Clinical trial recruitment faces several challenges at the site level, such as outdated patient databases, and failure to enroll patients because of complex eligibility criteria. Other challenges include unqualified or unresponsive patients, patient location, and lack of interest.

 

“Persistent pain points plague every clinical trial, such as the inevitable protocol amendments that need to be planned for rather than reacting to them as a surprise—which can exponentially delay the process and increase the costs. Clinical Trial operations need to be focused on the right aspects at the right time, especially up front,” explains Dr. Rajasimha.

 

Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, Founder and CEO of Jeeva Informatics can speak on the following:

  • What are the different phases of the drug approval process by the FDA?
  • What are the challenges in bringing new drugs to market?
  • What are the persistent challenges faced in clinical trials for the testing of drugs?
  • What are the factors that affect clinical trial recruitment and participation?

 

About Jeeva Informatics

The personal experience of losing a child born with a rare disease and a brother with a chronic disease became the springboard for Dr. Harsha Rajasimha to apply his years of postdoctoral training at NIH and FDA to accelerating therapies for rare and common conditions. He knew that technology in itself is not the limiting factor and that patient-centered design guided by stakeholder needs and regulatory requirements would guide their continuous learning digital platform. By digitizing and automating manual repetitive tasks and reducing the logistical burdens on patients and study teams by over 70%, Jeeva accelerates the process of bringing new medicines or vaccines to patients who need them by over 3x faster. The Virginia-based company’s modular software-as-a-service platform is fully scalable and facilitates patient enrollment, engagement, and evidence generation in clinical trials on any browser-enabled mobile device. Visit https://jeevatrials.com/

 

 

To speak with Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, contact me via khelms@jotopr.com or call 727-777-4619

Media Inquiries:

Karla Jo Helms

JOTO PR™

727-777-4619

jotopr.com

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Business Economics Lifestyle Technology

3 Trends that can help SMBs exceed in E-commerce: AI, buy now_pay later & buy online_pick-up in store

In the U.S., revenue earned from retail e-commerce is estimated to exceed one trillion dollars in 2023.

 

The online shopping revenue in the U.S. is projected to surpass 1.5 trillion dollars by 2027. According to research by Fundera, 16% of all retail purchases are made on e-commerce sites and it is also anticipated that e-commerce will handle 95% of all consumer transactions by 2040.

 

However, pain points for SMBs can vary based on industry and company, but some are universal. As per market research, SMBs can lose up to 30% of potential revenue each year due to inefficient processes.

 

SMBs need to look towards better targeted marketing, increased customer retention, seamless automation, and efficient sales processes. By using AI, product recommendations can be personalized based on past purchase history, improving conversion rates by 915% and order values by 3%. AI can also optimize pricing, enhance customer service, segment customers, forecast sales and demand, and even enable smart logistics. Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular, with 40% of consumers using them to engage with retail companies in the U.S.

 

“Unpredictable shifts in consumer buying habits triggered by rapidly unfolding technologies have created even more challenges for retailers wanting to service their customers online, especially for SMB Davids who are trying to keep pace with the e-commerce Goliaths,” notes Mikel Lindsaar, CEO and Founder of StoreConnect. “AI is revolutionizing the e-commerce industry by enabling personalized shopping experiences, improving supply chain efficiency, and enhancing fraud detection.”

 

Some of the other top e-commerce trends in 2023 revolve around new payment methods.

 

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions have been increasing worldwide. Statistics show that the global use of BNPL increased by a staggering 400% between 2019 and 2021, now accounting for 3% of the e-commerce market share. Retailers have introduced BNPL services, and consumers are increasingly using them for their daily purchases. There are currently around 360 million BNPL users worldwide, and the BNPL market is worth over $150 billion. Additionally, BNPL lending in the U.S. is predicted to reach $114 billion by 2024.

 

Buy Online, Pick-up in Store (BOPIS) is also gaining popularity. The global BOPIS industry was valued at $243.89 billion in 2021 with a projection of $703.2 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 19.3%. U.S. shoppers spent $95.9 billion through BOPIS options in 2022, accounting for 9% of all e-commerce sales. In the U.S., the BOPIS market is expected to exceed $150 billion by 2025. For brick-and-mortar stores, BOPIS increases the chances for retailers to make additional sales once their consumers arrive to pick up their online orders.

 

According to research, the average percentage of online shopping carts abandoned before purchases are completed is 68.63%. However, a significant 63% of those cases can be recovered with the correct set of offerings, such as providing various payment options.

 

“With online purchases coming in from all directions, and a heightened demand for a more personalized and rewarding shopping experience, e-commerce SMBs trying to survive and thrive need to accommodate these trends without adding additional labor and expense, and having different payment options not only provides convenience for customers, but it also helps to increase sales and reduce cart abandonment rates,” concludes Lindsaar.

 

Mikel Lindsaar, CEO and Founder of StoreConnect can speak on the following:

  • What are the latest trends in the e-commerce industry that SMBs need to implement?
  • How can AI help SMBs compete with the bigger e-commerce companies?
  • Why is it important for SMBs to have a range of payment options for consumers?
  • What are the factors that are leading more consumers to use BNPL and BOPIS?

 

About StoreConnect

Mikel Lindsaar, CEO and Founder of StoreConnect, is an experienced technology entrepreneur whose mission is to infuse small and medium-sized businesses with the power to be successful in eCommerce 3.0 and scale to meet growing demand. Small businesses can’t waste time setting up their business on a platform only to repeat the process by changing platforms when they want to scale, nor do they want to waste time figuring out how to integrate multiple platforms. StoreConnect (built on the World’s Number 1 CRM, Salesforce) gives clients a complete, powerful, configurable eCommerce and CRM solution where they can manage their website, online and in-store sales, provide amazing customer service, run all their digital marketing campaigns and have up-to-date detailed metrics, reporting and full understanding of their customer. They were awarded Salesforce’s 2021 International Partner Innovation Award of the year for the Retail sector. They are changing the ease with which small businesses are run — with a manageable price tag. StoreConnect is Time. Well Spent.

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Healthcare Lifestyle Science

Experts say ergonomics crucial in combating musculoskeletal disorders

Musculoskeletal Disorders

The World Health Organization reports that musculoskeletal conditions affect approximately 1.71 billion individuals worldwide, and are the leading cause of disability globally, with low back pain being the single leading cause of disability in 160 countries.

 

Disabling musculoskeletal conditions affect approximately 127.4 million people in the U.S., which is over a third of the U.S. population.

 

Musculoskeletal care accounts for one-sixth of employer-sponsored plan dollars and a $600 billion expense to the U.S. economy.

 

The pain can lead to the joints being affected, leading to osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, and spondylarthritis. In addition, bones may also be affected by osteoporosis, osteopenia, and associated fragility fractures or traumatic fractures. Chronic musculoskeletal disorders may also lead to depression, anxiety, and decreased quality of life.

 

Some of the causes of musculoskeletal disorders are poor posture while sitting and working long hours – a condition prevalent among dental surgeons and ENT specialists.

 

“A good dental provider does everything they can to relax their patients during any dental procedure, frequently at the expense of their own physical well-being. Dentists and hygienists assume awkward postures while performing repetitive tasks, positioning themselves rigidly to maintain precise movements to minimize patient discomfort,” notes Adrian LaTrace, CEO of Boyd Industries, the market leader in the design and manufacture of highly reliable, innovative dental and medical operatory equipment.

 

People suffering from musculoskeletal pain tend to miss out on work for an average of 8.2 days, which is double the sick days of an average worker. This figure goes up to 13 days for individuals with musculoskeletal pain and mental health needs.

 

Experts suggest good ergonomics are a necessity to protect against musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of ergonomics is to alleviate stress and eradicate injuries and disorders linked to improper posture and alignment, muscle overuse, and repetitive movements. Proper workplace ergonomics reduce musculoskeletal problems by 61% and lost workdays by 88%.

 

“Workplace ergonomics in the dental industry needs to be ubiquitous, from the front desk to the treatment chair and surrounding dental operatory equipment. The benefits of an ergonomic office depend upon the individual needs of each member of the entire team,” emphasizes LaTrace.

Adrian LaTrace, CEO of Boyd Industries can speak on the following:

  • What are the factors leading to the increase in musculoskeletal disorders?
  • What are some of the conditions that may result from musculoskeletal pain?
  • Which professions are most prone to musculoskeletal disorders?
  • How can ergonomics help in reducing the risks of musculoskeletal disorders?
  • What are the benefits of proper ergonomics in the workplace?

About Boyd Industries
For 65 years, Boyd Industries has been the innovative market leader in the design and manufacture of dental and medical operatory equipment. Their high-quality and reliable equipment has been the choice of dental specialty practices and dental surgery offices. The rapidly expanding Ear, Nose, and Throat market now seeks its reputation for quality and innovation. Boyd equipment is specifically designed to provide maximum practice productivity while incorporating ergonomic characteristics for the doctor, staff, and patient. As an original equipment manufacturer, they use a vertically integrated approach to ensure their process meets high-quality standards. This approach allows Boyd to control each step of component fabrication and product assembly. Boyd’s products include a full line of dental exam, treatment and surgical chairs, dental delivery systems, LED exam and surgical lighting, custom sterilization and storage cabinetry, doctor or assistant seating, and other accessories. Boyd was named the Senate Small Business of the Week in November 2020 and is a ten-time winner of the Townie Choice Award for excellence in orthodontic operatory equipment. Built to last. Built for you. Built by Boyd.

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Lifestyle Local News Perks Regulations & Security Travel & Leisure

Trenton-Mercer TSA checkpoint gets new screening machines

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Trenton-Mercer Airport now features new equipment that enhances security and also serves as a convenience for travelers.

 

PHOTO by TSA: One of the two new 3-D checkpoint scanners that have recently been installed at Trenton-Mercer Airport.

 

“The TSA recently installed two new screening machines for carry-on bags at Trenton-Mercer, making it the first airport in New Jersey to have its checkpoint 100 percent equipped with this new technology,” said Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes.

 

These state-of-the-art machines provide 3-D imaging capable of detecting explosives and other threat items. Passengers using the new machines will be permitted to leave their electronic devices in their carry-on bags. The new scanners should result in fewer bag checks, according to the TSA, but if a bag requires further screening, a TSA officer will inspect it to ensure it does not contain a threat item.

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Education Environment Local News

D&R Greenway Land Trust announces the public grand opening of the new Discovery Center at Point Breeze in Bordentown

D&R Greenway Land Trust is pleased to welcome community members to the public opening of the new Discovery Center at Point Breeze on Saturday, May 20 from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., 101 Park Street in Bordentown, N.J.

The Welcome Hall to the Discovery Center at Point Breeze features an 1847 map of the property and a framed auction advertisement from the 1940 era when the property was purchased by Divine Word Missionaries for $165,000

 

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 1:00 pm in front of the paneled mahogany doors at the entrance to the Discovery Center. Barbara ‘Blue Jay’ Michalski will offer a Lenape blessing. Bordentown City Mayor Jennifer Sciortino will be joined with State and local dignitaries to cut the ribbon, along with D&R Greenway President and CEO Linda Mead who oversaw the design of the new museum.

 

“The two years it took to renovate the 200-year-old house, that was lived in by nuns and priests for the past 80 years, was a flash compared to the property’s thirteen thousand years of history,” says Mead.

 

“It was a flash that has now put the Bordentown community on the world stage, with a welcoming place full of stories and discoveries that will delight history lovers, nature buffs, and artists alike.”

 

Preservation of the former estate of Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte, exiled King of Spain and older brother of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France, by the State of NJ, City of Bordentown and D&R Greenway in 2020, was heralded in the New York Times, the Times of London and the Spanish News Service. Following two years of renovations by D&R Greenway, the land trust is opening the former Gardener’s House, the only remaining structure from the Bonaparte era.  Guests will be treated to stories of the Crown Jewels, archaeological displays and a ca. 1819 painting of Joseph Bonaparte in its original frame that has never before been seen in public.  Local artists showcase unique features of the land while inviting visitors to discover these special places for themselves. Even the restrooms, named the Delaware River and the Crosswicks Creek Water Closets, share facts and stories about the waterways and history connected to Point Breeze.

The Discovery Center at Point Breeze with a new welcoming sign and flags commemorating the Lenape Nation and Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte

 

Peter Dawson, Chair, Board of Trustees of D&R Greenway, says, “We are excited to offer this opportunity to discover a new place that is important in history and as a unique natural area, while recognizing people whose stewardship of land has protected this place and others for generation upon generation.”

 

Welcome to the Discovery Center at Point Breeze

Many centuries before Bonaparte lived at Point Breeze, the land was occupied by the Lenape. Chief Red Feather, an 88-year-old wisdom keeper from southern New Jersey, will be at the Grand Opening with unique Native American crafts made from stone, wood and leather, offered for purchase.  Recognition of the Lenape as the Original People of the Lenapekoking (land of the Lenape) is commemorated with a newly designed flag that recognizes the three Lenape clans: the turkey, the wolf and the turtle. The native peoples are known for their spiritual connection with the natural world that is recognized in the new Discovery Center.

The Original People Flag, designed by Eric Labacz, will welcome visitors to the Discovery Center at Point Breeze.

 

Members of the public are invited to the Public Grand Opening on May 20  to tour of the new Discovery Center and Historic Garden, view art and never-before-seen exhibits and a Delaware River sturgeon sculpture by artist Kate Graves.

 

Admission is at no cost.  Donations are gladly accepted, with a suggested donation of $10 to support conservation of this historic and ecologically sensitive property. All are welcome to discovery!

 

About D&R Greenway Land Trust: D&R Greenway Land Trust is an accredited nonprofit that has reached a new milestone of over 22,000 acres of land preserved throughout central New Jersey since 1989. By protecting land in perpetuity and creating public trails, it gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. The land trust’s preserved farms and community gardens provide local organic food for residents of the region—including those most in need. Through strategic land conservation and stewardship, D&R Greenway combats climate change, protects birds and wildlife, and ensures clean drinking water for future generations. D&R Greenway’s mission is centered on connecting land with people from all walks of life. www.drgreenway.org; info@drgreenway.org. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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Business Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Technology

Avantra introduces a new Cloud edition for RISE with SAP at Sapphire 2023

CHICAGO, IL, — Avantra, the leading AIOps platform for SAP operations automation, today announced the launch of their new Cloud edition for RISE with SAP. This edition enables RISE customers to automate cloud, on premise, and third party operation activities as they migrate their business operations to the cloud.

 

RISE with SAP has made it easier for SAP customers to bring SAP applications to the cloud together in a single contract, but customers retain responsibility for the operation of their applications. With the unprecedented capability to automate workflows across cloud, legacy, and third party implementations, the Cloud edition for RISE with SAP provides the time needed to focus on their strategic initiatives.

 

“At a time when more and more companies are looking at enterprise wide digital transformation and wanting to connect rather than isolate operations, impeding the ability to optimize hybrid operations presents a significant barrier to business advancement. We developed a Cloud edition designed to work with RISE with SAP to remove this barrier, recognizing that this need is not likely to go away any time soon,” John Appleby, Chief Executive Officer, Avantra.

 

One hybrid AIOps platform. Endless possibilities

The Avantra Cloud edition for RISE with SAP provides a single point of access to service and operating data and will support more than 300 RISE with SAP services. These include options such as configuration management for regulated industries, one off services, and cloud application services. It will also support more than 100 services where customers are responsible, such as managing data files, determining security requirements, and end to end application monitoring.  

 

The ability to get such services from Avantra gives customers the choice of running them on cloud servers or partitioning them onto legacy operating systems, which they might want to do, for example, to reduce costs or gain strategic advantage.

 

“This new edition is the perfect complement to RISE with SAP. The enhanced flexibility and capability mean that customers can leverage software operations and services, and manage data across all modes, building strategic business systems, provisioning them more efficiently and with minimal human effort and error,” said Bernd Engist, Chief Technology Officer.

 

Echoing the market demand for hybrid solutions within SAP operations management, Nick Miletich, Chief Technology Officer at Managecore, said, “As RISE with SAP deployments continues to go live, Managecore too sees the increasing need for a unified experience for SAP customers across their IT systems that are both managed and not managed by RISE with SAP. Managecore’s RISE with SAP companion solution ManagecoreiQ+ leverages Avantra’s RISE certified automation tool via our Watchdog platform to provide that single pane of glass experience by monitoring all enterprise systems hosted by RISE with SAP or in a multi-cloud environment. The approach empowers SAP customers to see the full breadth of their systems in one place.”

 

In addition to introducing the new Cloud edition at SAP Sapphire, Avantra will demonstrate the ongoing activity to improve results and add context to its data analysis capability, what they call “intelligent automation.” In one demonstration, for example, they will show how AI tools like Chat GPT might improve efficiency in analyzing check results and guiding users to solutions. 

 

The Avantra leadership team will be hands on at booth #830. SAP Sapphire takes place on Tuesday, May 16-17 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando.

 

About Avantra:

Avantra helps businesses achieve commercial success and competitive advantage by saving time and resources, reducing issues and supporting growth.  Customers of the Avantra platform save at least 30% in SAP operations costs, giving them the edge in a market where resources are tight. Today, some of the world’s largest organizations use Avantra to transform from reactive to proactive. This results in significant time and cost benefits across their business by avoiding human error, assuring quality, and delivering a single source of truth. The unmatched intelligence of Avantra gives enterprises freedom from system downtime, real SAP context for the whole technology stack and time for higher value projects. Many multinational brands rely on the Avantra platform to bring intelligent automation to their SAP operations, creating time to build a future path to hyperautomation success.

 

www.avantra.com

Media Contact:

Hemant Deswal

h.deswal@bcmpublicrelations.com

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Lifestyle Local News Travel & Leisure

County airport awarded $1.1M for taxiway, tower projects

— Trenton-Mercer Airport is one of nine New Jersey airports being awarded a FY2023 Airport Improvement Program grant from the N.J. Department of Transportation.

 

It is also one of 29 airports nationwide that will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation under the FY2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) FAA Contract Tower Program.

The air traffic control tower at Trenton-Mercer Airport.

 

Trenton-Mercer is receiving a $700,000 state grant for the rehabilitation of Taxiway A, which represents 90 percent of the eligible cost of the project. The County will cover the remaining 10 percent.

 

The FAA grant being awarded to Trenton-Mercer under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is for $400,000 to fund an Environmental Assessment study for the replacement of the airport’s aging air traffic control tower.

 

“We continually seek federal and state funds to help ensure that Trenton-Mercer Airport meets the highest industry operational and safety standards,” said Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes.

 

“In 2022 alone, our airport acquired more than $4.2 million in FAA grants and more than $900,000 in New Jersey Department of Transportation grants.”

Categories
Culture Farewell Services International & World Lifestyle Regulations & Security

An excellence, humorous spirit in Jamaica police, sadly has died

Officer Neville Samuels, an injured-at-work policeman for the Jamaica Constabulary Forces died earlier this year in January. He was a true Jamaican soldier who worked for decades as a police officer for Jamaica’s Constabulary Forces until his resignation due to injury.

 

Officer Samuels “was a lot of fun, very popular, and fully loaded with unending humor… He will be missed by many. R.I.P.  Heaven has gained a true godly spirit.”

— Niece Michelle D.

 

 

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Lifestyle Local News Regulations & Security Travel & Leisure

Hughes Administration conducts full-scale emergency drill at airport

EWING, N.J. — Trenton-Mercer Airport (TTN) was the site of a Full-Scale Emergency Exercise on May 4 that included more than two dozen agencies and several hundred volunteers, and left Mercer County better prepared for a real emergency, County Executive Brian M. Hughes said.

PHOTO: Airport Manager Melinda Montgomery directs volunteer “victims” to the “crash site.”

 

The purpose of this exercise, which is required by the Federal Aviation Administration every three years, was to evaluate the level of preparedness of the first responders expected to be involved in an actual emergency at TTN. Additionally, it allowed professionals of various emergency disciplines the opportunity to train together at a real-life venue. It also provided an opportunity to critique the response procedures of emergency service personnel, as well as provide an opportunity to improve and revise the Airport Emergency Plan, if necessary.

 

“This exercise goes directly to the most important responsibility of government: the welfare and safety of our residents, our emergency responders and our airport users,” Mr. Hughes said.

 

The airport is part of the Mercer County Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, headed by Deputy Administrator Aaron T. Watson, who carefully monitored the progress of the exercise.

 

“The important elements of this exercise included the identification, coordination and assignment of specific agencies and equipment to specific tasks, the effectiveness of the lines of authority and communication, and the actual mechanics of the response and scene management,” Mr. Watson said. “Trenton-Mercer Airport has an impeccable safety record, and it is tests such as this that help us achieve success.”

PHOTO: First responders assist people at the “crash site” where buses represent the commercial aircraft.

 

The exercise, which was coordinated by Airport Manager Melinda Montgomery, focused on a passenger aircraft that had landed at the airport. During its landing roll, a single-engine aircraft began taxiing across the active runway, colliding with the commercial aircraft. This collision sheared off the main landing gear of the commercial aircraft, causing it to slide to a stop and causing a fuel leak.

 

Along with TTN Administration and TTN Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting-Station 34, agencies from every level of government took part in this exercise, including the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, Mercer County Office of Emergency Management, Ewing Township Police Department, Ewing Township Office of Emergency Management, Hopewell Township Police Department, Hopewell Office of Emergency Management, New Jersey Division of Aeronautics, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

PHOTO: First responders from multiple agencies arrive at the scene.

 

Also, Ewing Township Fire Department-Station 30, Prospect Heights Fire Company-Station 31, West Trenton Fire Company-Station 33, Union-Titusville Fire Company-Station 53, Trenton EMS, Capital Health System EMS, Ewing Township EMS, Union Fire Company and Rescue Squad of Titusville, Pennington Fire Company-Station 51, Hopewell Fire Department-Station 52, Lawrence Township Fire Department-Station 20, Hamilton Township Fire Department-Station 10, Trenton Fire Department-Station 70, West Windsor Emergency Services, East Windsor Rescue Squad District One, Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, Lawrence Township Emergency First Aid Squad, Hopewell Fire Department Emergency Medical Unit, Nottingham Ambulance Squad, Robert Wood Johnson Health Network EMS, Robbinsville Division of Fire, East Windsor Rescue Squad District Two, the Salvation Army and the Mercer County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Fire, Rescue and EMS agencies from outside Mercer County also assisted.