As I reflect on 2014, I think of our theme for the year which was “Engaging the Community.” There is so much that we accomplished and I am proud to say that we did it with this theme in mind. The Naperville Fire Department celebrated its 140th anniversary of serving the community and even though we have grown and expanded our services, our mission and our theme truly reflects what we were able to achieve for our citizens that we serve.
To name all the initiatives and projects would be far too much to be described in this short summary, but among the highlights were the Prescription Drug Drop Off Program where citizens can now discard their prescription medications at any time of the day or week at any of the ten Naperville fire stations via a drop box. This program which began in April of 2014 has led to over 1,500 lbs of prescription drugs to be taken out of households and away from young children or others who can either accidentally or purposefully abuse and misuse these medications.
The department also embarked on a Citizen Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) Program where we now have three units in Park District athletic field locations. The AED boxes are tied directly to our public safety dispatch center so that immediate first responder instructions can be provided along with the accessibility of a portable AED that can come to the aid of an unconscious or unresponsive patient.
This year, our new theme is “Communicating the Stream (of Services) in 2015.” This refers to sharing with the public all of the services we provide so that they can be accessed when needed for both emergency and non-emergency response. As the world changes, as should our services to you… our customers. We will continue to strive to make all our services more attainable and accessible to you by way of website enhancements, public service announcements and other multi-media venues that we have access to.
Read this column every month to learn everything the Naperville Fire Department has to offer our great community.
Stay Safe,
Mark J. Puknaitis
