National Preparedness Month at NJN Public Television & Radio

Trenton, NJ – September is National Preparedness Month and NJN Public Television & Radio is marking the event by providing information and resources to viewers to help them be better prepared in the event of an emergency or natural disaster.
After September 11, 2001, New Jersey witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of selflessness and heroism from citizens across the state. People from all over the state wanted to know how they could help and what they could do. As part of National Preparedness Month, NJN and the Citizen Corps Council joined forces to launch a public awareness campaign building on that spirit of volunteerism and publicizing the need for trained volunteers in times of emergency. NJN is the first public television station in the nation to use its broadcast air and Internet to assist a state chapter of Citizens Corps Council in this way.

Throughout September, NJN will air short video messages, produced by NJN with the Citizen Corps Council, highlighting Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)/Neighborhood Watch, Citizen Corps – Join Our Team, and the New Jersey Medical Reserve Corps volunteer opportunities. These messages are designed to inform viewers of the importance of being prepared in times of emergency, as well as recruit new trainees for these important programs by showing people the difference they can make in their communities in times of emergency.

NJN has created a companion website for this message series which strives to prepare citizens for emergency disaster situations with preparedness tips such as how to create a safety plan, how to deal with a medical emergency, and how to prepare a safety kit; local, state and national on-line resources for volunteer activities; and video clips of the current on-air messages. This site was launched in September 2005 and continues to receive approximately 1,500 to 2,000 hits monthly.

On September 5, NJN’s Executive Director Elizabeth Christopherson joined Richard Cañas, Director of New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, and Colonel Joseph Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, in a press conference with the New Jersey Citizen Corps in Trenton where a 20-foot-long CERT Mobile Command Trailer gave media a first-hand view of what it is like to work in an emergency command post. Ms. Christopherson shared the many ways NJN is working with partners like CERT to help New Jersey residents be prepared in the case of emergency. She pointed out that thanks to its statewide reach and new digital technology, NJN can provide the general public with the information it needs to prepare for a disaster and respond during an emergency, while also sending secure alerts, response and recovery information over the air to first responders and emergency command centers.

NJN News will provide live coverage of the September 11th Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Interfaith Remembrance Service from St. Peter’s Church in Lower Manhattan at 2:00 pm on Monday, September 11, and will provide a satellite feed for other media outlets. The broadcast will be hosted by NJN News Reporter Marie DeNoia and will be rebroadcast the evening of September 11 at 10 pm. NJN Public Radio will also broadcast this event at 2:00 pm and 10:00 pm.

NJN continues to work with partners like the New Jersey Citizen Corps, New Jersey Business Force and other organizations and agencies in New Jersey and the region, as well as national Homeland Security, to keep the public informed before, during, and after emergencies – helping to make our communities safer, stronger, and better prepared.