New Jersey

Office of the Governor | ICYMI: Speaker Coughlin Highlights Mental Health Care Crisis Response Investments Ahead of 9-8-8 Launch

Published

2 years ago

July 15, 2022

FY23 State Funds Appropriated $28.8 Million for Disaster Response

PERTH AMBOY – A majority of New Jersey adults and a rising variety of younger individuals expertise psychological well being issues, a nationwide behavioral well being disaster that has solely been exacerbated within the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Joined by Appearing Governor Sheila Y. Oliver at Raritan Bay Medical Middle, Meeting Speaker Craig J. Coughlin at present held a press convention to focus on complete psychological well being care disaster response funding within the historic Fiscal Yr 2023 (FY23) State Funds, signed by Governor Phil Murphy on June 30, 2022. The FY23 price range appropriated $28.8 million – $12.8 million for 988 implementation and $16 million for cellular disaster response to help people in disaster who want in-person care.

“We’re at a essential level in our response to psychological well being disaster and our investments into a sturdy continuum of care begins with the launch of 988, which goes to make sure each particular person in each neighborhood can entry the individualized care they want,” stated Meeting Speaker Craig J. Coughlin (D-Middlesex). “Alongside disaster response, we additionally invested broadly in neighborhood companies in addition to essential meals help and housing initiatives, that are all tied to psychological wellbeing and very important to our dedication to prioritize the wants of individuals and households all throughout our state.”

On the outset of his third time period, Speaker Coughlin recognized psychological well being amongst his high priorities for the 220th legislative session. Working collectively, the Murphy Administration and the New Jersey Legislature have been in a position to allocate funds on this yr’s State Funds that won’t solely assist to remodel disaster look after New Jerseyans, however may also advance the precedence to make sure compassionate and complete psychological well being care is accessible.

Starting on Saturday July 16, the 988 hotline might be out there 24/7 for name, textual content, or chat for these experiencing a psychological health-related or suicidal disaster, or these seeking to assist a liked one by a disaster. The prevailing Lifeline quantity, 1-800-273-8255, may also proceed to be out there.

“Saturday’s launch of the 9-8-8 Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline is an unbelievable development in entry to coordinated look after our state. This easy-to-remember quantity will give New Jerseyans experiencing a psychological well being or suicidal disaster entry to free and confidential help through name, textual content or chat, 24 hours a day, 7 days every week,” stated Appearing Governor Sheila Y. Oliver. “The Murphy Administration, together with the New Jersey Legislature, have prioritized the psychological well being wants of residents and labored tirelessly to help New Jerseyans who’re struggling. Over $28 million has been allotted within the FY2023 price range to help the infrastructure of the brand new lifeline and launch new cellular disaster response groups for these in want of in-person help.”

“Hackensack Meridian Well being is deeply dedicated to addressing the disaster in behavioral healthcare by dramatically increasing entry to care, higher coordinating remedy and growing new therapies to assist the 1 in 4 people who find themselves fighting psychological sickness or dependancy,’’ stated Robert C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Well being. “We’re grateful to the Legislature and Governor Murphy for addressing this disaster by an unprecedented funding in companies that may little doubt save lives.’’

Enabling laws (A-2036/S-311) signed into regulation by Governor Murphy on June 30, 2022 will guarantee New Jerseyans with behavioral well being wants will have the ability to entry the suitable specialised care they require. Along with the hotline, 988 will develop capability to dispatch cellular psychological well being disaster response groups. As a complete, the service will assist to fill the gaps in the neighborhood disaster care system.

“The rising variety of individuals experiencing psychological well being issues is a quiet disaster that has grown worse throughout the coronavirus pandemic. It harms the lives and livelihoods of individuals in all walks of life, together with younger individuals,” stated Senator Joseph F. Vitale, chair of the Senate Well being, Human Providers and Senior Residents Committee. “With this yr’s price range and the passage of S-311, we’re performing to convey extra consideration to the difficulty, ship extra sources, improve the variety of behavioral well being professionals and create a sturdy disaster response system to assist these in want. Too usually, our neighbors, households and mates who could also be in disaster are compelled to bear their anguish silently, and alone. By becoming a member of the nationwide effort to stop suicide and different unfavourable behavioral well being outcomes, our state will have the ability to supply these struggling most a literal lifeline, and instant assist by dialing 988.”

“We’re very excited for the launch 988 in New Jersey and nationwide, and I wish to thank Governor Murphy, Lieutenant Governor Oliver, Senator Vitale and Speaker Coughlin for his or her help,” stated NJ Division of Human Providers Commissioner Sarah Adelman. “988 represents an vital step ahead in well timed entry to psychological well being companies and can assist save lives. 988 can be extra than simply an easy-to-remember quantity. It is going to be a direct connection to accessible and compassionate help and sources, out there 24/7 to anybody experiencing misery, whether or not that’s ideas of suicide, psychological well being or substance use disaster, or some other sort of emotional concern. Individuals can even dial 988 if they’re frightened a couple of liked one who may have disaster help. Anybody experiencing a psychological well being disaster will solely want to recollect these three numbers.”

“New Jersey is becoming a member of states throughout the nation within the transition to the easy-to-remember, 3-digit quantity for the 988 Suicide & Disaster Lifeline. That is high precedence for me and our total management right here on the Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS),” stated Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., the HHS Assistant Secretary for Psychological Well being and Substance Use and the chief of SAMHSA. “I’m dedicated to continued work with our nationwide stakeholders to attain a clean transition and I tremendously recognize the partnership with our state leaders in New Jersey. Thanks to the decision facilities and the behavioral well being professionals who’re working onerous on the native stage to help individuals in disaster, stop suicides and save lives.”

“As a mom who misplaced her treasured 16-year-old son T.J. to suicide 11 years in the past, I’m grateful to our NJ Legislators for understanding the significance of 988 and the neighborhood companies and infrastructure that should be bolstered to create a system that may assist as an alternative of harm and that they’ve put essential funding behind this initiative,” stated Wendy Sefcik, chair of the NJ Youth Suicide Prevention Advisory Council. “Within the occasion of a psychological well being disaster, everybody ought to know who to name, who will reply and have someplace to go.”

New Jersey has taken a number of steps to enhance entry to behavioral well being care over time: increasing psychological well being early intervention applications, issuing licenses for added remedy beds, selling measures to enhance entry to substance use dysfunction remedy and help companies, and dealing to develop available entry to behavioral well being remedy suppliers.

Extra details about the 988 hotline from the Division of Human Providers might be accessed right here.

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New Jersey

What is digital ID and why doesn’t New Jersey have it?

Published

2 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

What is digital ID and why doesn’t New Jersey have it?

In the age of digital wallets and contactless convenience, a growing number of states are embracing the option to add driver’s licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet.

These digital IDs can be added to iPhone users’ Wallet app alongside digital credit cards, boarding passes and event tickets.

New Jersey, though, isn’t one of them.

What states have Apple Wallet IDs?

As of now, several states have partnered with Apple to enable digital IDs. They can be added directly to Apple Wallet and used in airports, businesses, or government offices.

For instance, TSA checkpoints at several airports, including LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Liberty, already take digital IDs, and more are being added.

But, New Jersey doesn’t yet have digital driver’s licenses.

In early 2024, state lawmakers moved a bill directing the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission to develop digital driver’s licenses. But that measure gives the state six years to make it happen. The bill is winding its way through the legislative process.

Apple, though, continues to expand partnerships with more states to create Wallet-compatible IDs.

Connecticut, for example, was one of the first states to announce a digital ID rollout but hasn’t yet launched it. Lawmakers in West Virginia, New Mexico and Montana have said digital driver’s licenses are a priority.

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New Jersey

Fresh snow coats some North Jersey towns for a white Christmas

Published

13 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Fresh snow coats some North Jersey towns for a white Christmas

2-minute read

New Jersey experienced a frosty December — and Christmas has proved no exception.

Christmas morning temperatures accross the Garden State dipped into the low to mid-20s in much of the state, and even into the teens in higher elevations, forecasters said. While most towns saw little to no overnight snow accumulation, some lucky areas awoke to a white Christmas.

How much snow did North Jersey see?

Snowfall leading up to Christmas was light but enough to dust parts of the state with festive flurries. Bergenfield reported one of the highest accumulation, measuring 1 inch of snow on Christmas Eve. Nearby, Ramsey recorded 1.1 inches, and Sparta with 1.6 inches of snowfall.

In New Providence, Paramus and Stewartsville, snow totals were less than an inch, with each town reporting between 0.6 and 0.8 inches. Somerset logged an inch, while Wantage received 1.3 inches.

For those dreaming of a white Christmas, Bergenfield, Ramsey, Sparta and Wantage offered picturesque views, with enough snow to blanket the ground in holiday cheer. Meanwhile, other areas in the state settled for a chilly but snow-free holiday.

Whether blanketed in white or simply bundled up, New Jersey residents should brace for continued cold as the year comes to a close.

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New Jersey

A Modest Theory About Those Drones Over New Jersey

Published

22 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

A Modest Theory About Those Drones Over New Jersey

(Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The welter of stories about unidentified drones over New York and New Jersey multiply, as do the myriad speculations. Thus far the narratives fall into three categories: private drones, those deployed by hostile foreign actors, those belonging to US authorities on a shadowy unacknowledged mission. The media has taken up the cause and the story has gone mainstream, with baffled officials furnishing no unified explanation – and President elect Trump weighing in. This installment of the column will add one more theory to the growing noise, but a theory grounded in full context, covering all the known facts and hopefully all the more plausible for that albeit.

To begin with, let us dismiss the private drone scenario quickly. Any private entity causing such panic would soon admit it and apologize for fear of being found out. The authorities via satellite would know whence they came, track them and reveal the facts. Next, the foreign actor theory – again, as Donald Trump says, the military or intelligence people would know. They might stay silent about it for fear of provoking a confrontation with a foreign power. The US is, sadly, prone to such deliberate passivity, the latest example being the Havana Syndrome findings by Congress which rejected the intelligence community’s previous report that the Syndrome doesn’t exist and no foreign power is responsible. The recent ad hoc Congressional Committee officially found that the Havana Syndrome is real and a foreign state is likely behind it.

So, back to the drones: do the authorities know that a foreign power is responsible for the drone outbreak but won’t say so? Timing is everything in such events. The Biden White House, as we have seen with aid spikes to Ukraine and granting permission to hit inside Russia, is not shy of adding last minute foreign policy complications to the incoming administration. Were it a hostile power, we would know all about who unleashed the drones. Which leaves the third and last category, that the drone phenomenon was a government initiative which authorities do not wish to acknowledge, a stealth operation that went public inadvertently. As this column is focused on geostrategic affairs, the possible explanation falls into its bailiwick.

Nobody has quite understood why the US and Germany refused, until recently, to allow Ukraine to use allied weapons to strike inside Russia (Germany still refuses). All manner of theories have swirled but nothing coherent obtained, other than an abiding fear of Russian retaliation. Yet Washington gave the go-ahead for Ukraine to use American weapons across its border in recent months, especially after Trump’s electoral victory. Did the Russian threat to retaliate against the US diminish? Did the US suddenly get safer? And why did it take so long to grant permission? The truth is, any sort of highly visible and attributable strike against the US was never a risk because Moscow would have suffered devastating retaliation. But an anonymous catastrophe in a major US city would work. A kind of secret Samson Option, or hidden nuclear device in Germany or America should Russian soil be bombed by allied weapons. The great efficacy of such a threat lies not in its use but entirely in the threat, the ambiguity. And the restraint or doubt it induces.

Nor should the threat be too visible or public. Anything that detonates massively raises an outcry, puts pressure on the authorities to find a return address, a clear culprit. No foreign power would risk such a big provocation that it would be identifiable and cause retaliation. Witness 9/11. One has to conclude, therefore, that the real version of such a threat would be scary rather than hugely destructive. The device would need to be constructed discreetly and stowed or delivered equally discreetly. And no foreign state actor would take responsibility. So, a small radiation device fits the bill. And this is precisely what New Jersey officials have been saying about the drone activity, namely that it’s our side looking for a small medical isotope gone missing, one that was aboard a container ship and went missing. But a federal agency has just denied the US was flying drones in search of nuclear radiation. All of which is standard procedure for stifling panic.

Finally, there’s this: the foreign actors would not deliver a direct threat. They would retain deniability, as in the Havana Syndrome. If, indeed, it’s a radiation device, nobody knows who was behind it, though the technical sophistication suggests only rival superpowers qualify as suspects. Which brings us back to the Russian dark ops and the inexplicable restraint of the Biden White House over helping Ukraine.

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