Riverview staff, volunteers responded quickly to disaster

RED BANK — In response to last week’s events, Riverview Medical Center hit the ground running in preparing to receive the injured from lower Manhattan, spokespersons for the medical center said.

"We enacted our disaster plan," announced Mike Valentino, Riverview spokesman, the day of the terrorist attack.

That plan, he said, called for a general call for available doctors on staff to lend their services. In addition, Valentino said, numerous off-duty nurses called and arrived to lend their support.

Riverview also established a triage area in the Blaisdell Wing. Those patients were being transported from the Atlantic Highlands ferry stop to the medical center by area first aid squads, according to Valentino.

Riverview overall had treated 30 people injured after the attack, said Diane Gribbin, a spokeswoman for the medical center. Of the 30, three were admitted, but all were deemed as "noncritical," she said.

The majority of those were treated for smoke inhalation, eye injuries, and cuts and abrasions, she said.

About 40 physicians answered the call to assist and "more than enough nurses," Gribbin said.

The medical center also received many requests from the community to volunteer and do whatever was needed, Gribbin said.

Riverview had 25 volunteers regularly scheduled for the day, and the center’s Office of Volunteer Services received 90 calls from members of the community.

"And those were just the ones we logged," Gribbin said, noting numerous people just showed up in the lobby offering help.

Riverview also had to contend with a deluge of phone calls from people trying to obtain any information about family members and from those wanting to donate blood, she said.

Local high school students came to assist and restaurants sent food. But the number of victims the hospital received was less than expected, and "if we had gotten the volume we had expected, [the help] would have been appreciated," Gribbin said.

Riverview closed its triage area by 10:30 p.m. Sept. 11 and once again channeled patients through the facility’s emergency room. All things considered, Gribbin said, the operation ran smoothly.

Riverview conducts disaster drills roughly three times a year, after which the staff’s performance is critiqued and the plan modified for any shortcomings. There are plans to conduct an evaluation on how the facility fared on this occasion, Gribbin said, but she added, "This time it ran very, very smoothly. Our staff did an outstanding job."

Tim Hogan, the newly named executive director of Riverview Medical Center, said he was extremely proud of the performance of the staff during the external disaster response.

"They just responded magnificently," he said.

He also noted how impressed he was by the response exhibited of the entire community.

"In light of what was going on," he said, "I’m proud to be a part of this community."

To help the community deal with these horrific events, Hogan said Riverview will be offering counseling at its Behavior Health Center on East Front Street.