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North Bergen began vaccinating young people aged 5 to 11 in early November. Photo courtesy of Mayor Nicholas Sacco

The North Bergen Council of Commissioners has approved a resolution to negotiate a shared services agreement with the township education council to provide nursing services.

The board of directors voted unanimously to do so at their December 8 meeting. After the meeting, township administrator Janet Castro told the Hudson Reporter that this sought to address a local shortage of nurses in the school district.

“There appears to be a shortage of nurses across the country,” she said. “So we try to help our partners in any way we can.”

Agreement in the works

Under the agreement, nurses from the township health ministry would meet the needs of the school system. The shared services agreement would run for the current year until June 30, 2022. Thereafter, the agreement could be renewed annually from July 1 to June 30 of each year. This is, of course, subject to the joint approval of the Council of Commissioners and the Board of Education.

The school board would reimburse the township on an hourly basis. However, this rate is not yet established because the resolution does not approve the agreement. The resolution only authorized the township administrator and special advocate to negotiate the shared services agreement.

More information on the matter can be heard at the next Council of Commissioners meeting or the next Education Council meeting.

The North Bergen Council of Commissioners will meet on December 21 at 11 a.m. in the Town Hall at City Hall at 4233 Kennedy Boulevard. For more information, go to northbergen.org and click on the event on the calendar web page.

The next Education Council meeting will be on December 15 at 5 p.m. at 7317 Kennedy Boulevard. For more information, visit northbergen.k12.nj.us.

Vaccination of young people

Efforts to increase the number of nurses in the district come as the township seeks to vaccinate eligible youth against COVID-19.

“We’re actually using the Department of Health team,” Castro said. “We are coordinating these clinics with the schools.

According to Castro, efforts to supplement the number of nurses coincide with efforts to vaccinate eligible students. “So it’s all part of the same effort,” she said.

“We will be scheduling COVID vaccines for students aged 5 to 11 in our schools,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Solter. “We are working with the North Bergen Department of Health to provide these pictures. “

The township regularly offers vaccines from the Vaccine and Resource Center located at 9243 Kennedy Boulevard. The site is privately owned, but has agreed to work with the township to help deliver vaccines to eligible residents.

“We have made a deal with the entity,” Castro said. “We use this site as an immunization and resource center. It is a satellite site.

Clinics across town

The Recreation Center is no longer a hub for vaccinations from August. According to Castro, this site will not be reactivated unless there is a drastic increase in vaccine requirements. She said the recreation center was optimal at first as there were no recreation programs back then, but that is no longer the case.

“The reason we were able to use the recreation center initially was that we didn’t have all of these recreation programs,” she said. “So we were able to use it. Now that many of these recreation programs are back in full force, we have had to relocate. We want everyone to come back to life as much as they can. “

In addition to this satellite site, numerous mobile vaccination clinics have taken place and are continuing in the township, according to Castro.

“We were at Winterfest,” she said. “We are in schools, parents’ night. It’s much more than just in the center. For more information, visit northbergenvaccine.org.

As of November 30, 81 percent of adults in North Bergen were fully immunized and 92 percent had received at least one dose.

For updates on this and more, check out www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be contacted at [email protected]