{"id":400967,"date":"2023-10-20T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=400967"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"HSEM-removes-expired-PPEs-for-disposal-in-Marpi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/HSEM-removes-expired-PPEs-for-disposal-in-Marpi\/","title":{"rendered":"HSEM removes expired PPEs for disposal in Marpi"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the CNMI Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management that dumped the expired boxes of Personal Protective Equipment near the Koblerville Fire Station to prepare for disposal at the Marpi Landfill and HSEM has been removing the PPEs for the last two days.<\/p>\n

In response to Saipan Tribune<\/em>\u2019s inquiry about the boxes of expired PPEs, HSEM public information officer Bernard Villagomez disclosed that they are finishing the disposal today, Friday.<\/p>\n

Villagomez said HSEM removed the PPEs from the temporary warehouse in San Antonio because the lease was expiring.<\/p>\n

PPE refers to equipment that is worn to minimize a range of hazards, including physical, chemical, and biological hazards.<\/p>\n

During the House of Representatives session last Oct. 12, Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan) disclosed that boxes and boxes of PPEs worth millions of dollars have been dumped as trash in Koblerville. He described the scene as \u201cpretty disturbing\u201d and stated he hasn\u2019t heard from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office about this matter despite the wanton waste of federal monies.<\/p>\n

Villagomez said yesterday that a disposal plan was being reviewed by the Department of Public Works when the warehouse lease expired and that this prompted the HSEM to transfer the expired PPEs near the Koblerville Fire Station.<\/p>\n

He said that, as per guidelines from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, all states and territories were given 90 days after May 11, 2023 to complete the demobilization, disposition, and disposal activities.<\/p>\n

He disclosed that the CNMI requested a 90-day extension, which was later approved by the FEMA regional manager.<\/p>\n

Villagomez said the final deadline for the proper disposal of the expired PPEs must be no later than Nov. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

He said PPEs have an expiration date because the materials and components used to make them deteriorate over time, reducing their effectiveness and potentially compromising the safety of the people using the equipment.<\/p>\n

He said the integrity of the materials used to make gloves, gowns, and other protective clothing is vulnerable to high temperatures, moisture, and chemicals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis can lead to tears, holes, and other defects that compromise the effectiveness of the PPEs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

FEMA provided HSEM with PPEs to ensure the safety of first responders from infectious diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred in 2020.<\/p>\n

Villagomez said when the surplus of PPEs arrived, they were immediately transferred to a temporary San Antonio warehouse.<\/p>\n

He said HSEM offered the PPEs to other CNMI agencies and other islands of Micronesia.<\/p>\n

He said FEMA would not accept any returns because the PPEs were approaching their expiration date and the capacity of the temporary San Antonio warehouse had been reached.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The CNMI Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has started removing these boxes of expired Personal Protective Equipment that HSEM relocated near the Koblerville Fire Station to prepare for proper disposal at the Marpi Landfill. It was Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan) who disclosed recently about the boxes of PPEs, that according to him, are worth millions of dollars being dumped as trash near the Fire Station in Koblerville.<\/p>\n

-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the CNMI Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management that dumped the expired…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}