Sources: NorthJersey.com; TheDailyJournal.com
Seeking to maintain a prestigious health accreditation and plan for the future health of its residents, the township is conducting a community health needs assessment survey.
Open to all township residents age 18 and up, the questionnaire takes up to 20 minutes to complete and is available through Jan. 20, municipal officials said.
The survey, which is conducted every five years, helps the municipality keep the public health accreditation it received in 2015, and will aid Bloomfield officials in planning for the future, township Health Director Karen Lore said.
“Were interested in looking at the population in general and trends in Bloomfield,” Lore said in an interview. “What one person does is not as significant as what is going on collectively.”
The survey results will be analyzed by Montclair State University’s Center for Research and Evaluation, Lore said.
“We look at disease prevention,” she said. “Making people healthy, but we look at it from a perspective of ‘do we have an infrastructure in place that supports healthy behavior and healthy choices?’”
A town with safer streets for pedestrians and bicyclists supports the healthy behavior of exercise, she said.
Since smoking was banned in restaurants, Lore noted that “unhealthy choice became difficult.”
In keeping with that philosophy, Bloomfield’s Township Council earlier this year banned smoking in its municipal parks.
The survey is available in both and .
Residents unable to access the website can obtain hard copies of the survey in the Health Department in Room 111 at the Municipal Building, 1 Municipal Plaza, just off of Bloomfield Avenue.
Representatives from the Bill Bottino Cancer Foundation donated a total of $120,000 to the Inspira Health Network Foundation Cancer Care and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Care Center of Jefferson Health at Washington Township (formerly Kennedy Cancer Care) organizations during a recent check presentation ceremony at the Bottino’s ShopRite store in Vineland. The funds were raised during the annual Bill Bottino Mud Run, the inaugural Bill Bottino Golf Tournament and the Purse Bingo fundraiser.
Carolyn Heckman, vice president of Inspira Health Network and executive director of Inspira Foundation Cumberland/Salem explained about last year’s donation from the Bill Bottino Cancer Foundation, “Some of the funds from last year were set aside to give aid to cancer patients that were faced with making a decision to either keep their heat on or purchase their cancer treatment medications.”
She added, “We also continued to use the dollars toward cancer research. Finding a cure for the many kinds of cancer is our ultimate goal so that none of us has to face this diagnosis in the future. Thank you to the great efforts of the Bottino family and the many volunteers and participants that have helped make this check presentation day possible.”