[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12051]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FIRST AID SQUAD OF WEEHAWKEN, NEW JERSEY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ALBIO SIRES

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 7, 2009

  Mr. SIRES. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Volunteer 
First Aid Squad of Weehawken, New Jersey, which is celebrating its 40th 
Anniversary on May 8, 2009. This organization has provided 40 years of 
free emergency medical service to the Township of Weehawken and the 
North Hudson Community.
  In 1969, the Weehawken Volunteer First Aid Squad was the first 
volunteer squad to form in Hudson County. It is now only one of two 
remaining volunteer squads still operating in the County. Over the last 
forty years, the squad has responded to over 75,000 calls for help, 
providing initial medical treatment and transportation to the 
appropriate medical facility at no charge to the patient.
  The squad primarily covers the Township of Weehawken, and for the 
last twenty years, the Town of Guttenberg, it has been directly 
involved in all of the most serious incidents that have struck the 
metropolitan area. In 1993 the squad responded to Manhattan to provide 
assistance to the World Trade Center when it was first attacked by 
terrorists. It then coordinated treatment of tens of thousands of the 
victims that were evacuated to New Jersey after the second terrorist 
attack in 2001.
  Two years later the volunteer squad provided comfort to thousands of 
commuters who were stranded in New York City during the blackout of 
2003. Most recently, the squad coordinated the response of over 50 
emergency medical service units who responded to the Weehawken Ferry 
Terminal to assist treating passengers of the ``Miracle on the Hudson'' 
plane crash.
  The squad has been a training ground for many residents who have 
chosen careers in the medical profession. Over, the years, the 
volunteer squad has been honored to have six members who have gone on 
to become medical doctors, and hundreds who have chosen careers as 
nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
  Please join me in congratulating the Weehawken Volunteer First Aid 
Squad and all members of the squad for providing the residents of 
Weehawken, Guttenberg and North Hudson with excellent emergency health 
care.

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