May 26, 2009 – People of all walks of life line the Veterans Walk of Honor in Bradley Point Park to search for bricks they bought in honor of loved ones during a ceremony dedicating the walkway’s third phase May 23.

Under breezy, overcast skies, an estimated 1,000 veterans, well-wishers, Veterans Council members and city officials turned out for the 5 p.m. dedication, which included remarks from Mayor John M. Picard and his chief of staff, James T. Burns Jr., and Veterans Council President Lori Grenfell.

The brief ceremony included a presentation of colors by the honor guards of the Police Department and Fire Department, an invocation from Veterans Council Chaplain Francis Blanchette and taps by former West Shore Fire Department Lt. Kevin McKeon.
 

 

---

May 19, 2009 – Accompanied by a state police escort, mover Gilberto Medina unloads a palette of cardboard boxes containing empty pill bottles in the City Hall parking lot May 18, as the city’s building maintenance crew leader, Dominic Perrotti, awaits the stockpile.

On May 19, city health officials dispensed the vials, which would contain amoxicillin, Cipro and doxycycline from the Strategic National Stockpile in the event of a biological attack or outbreak, at City Hall as part of a regional public health exercise conducted with the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

The four-hour drill tested each community’s preparedness plan to distribute medication to critical municipal first responders and staff in case of a public health emergency, including pandemic flu.

 

Critical staff includes police officers and firefighters, volunteers who run the public medication dispensing sites and municipal officials charged with maintaining essential city operations throughout an extended period. Families of critical staff are also offered medication so staff can focus on their duties during the time of an emergency.

 

City health officials distributed enough pill bottles for 1,500 recipients during the simulated anthrax attack, which was in the planning process for the last six months.

The Region 2 planning team comprises the 20 local health departments and districts that represent the Mass Dispensing Areas in the Greater New Haven region, the Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness, American Medical Response and the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority.

(City Photos/Michael P. Walsh)