USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Comes to Pemberton to Announce $1 Million Grant for Deborah Hospital to ‘Fortify Its Resources’

For the Pine Barrens Tribune BROWNS MILLS—Farah Ahmad, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) deputy under secretary for Rural Development, announced on Feb. 24 a $1 million Emergency Rural Health Care (ERHC) grant for Deborah Heart and Lung Center, based in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township.

“Having access to quality healthcare is an important part of USDA’s commitment to ensuring that people living in rural areas have every opportunity to succeed – and that they can find those opportunities close to home,” Ahmad declared. “The investment we’re announcing here in New Jersey demonstrates how the Biden-Harris administration is partnering with rural people to make sure rural communities can continue to access essential healthcare services for years to come.”

The grant will allow Deborah, the region’s only heart, lung, and vascular specialty

Photos Provided hospital, to “fortify its resources for the next pandemic response” and “transform the future of healthcare” by equipping its patient rooms to meet the critical care standards necessary for treating very ill or highly infectious patients.

“We are grateful for this $1 million grant from the USDA,” said Joseph Chirichella, president and CEO of Deborah. “As a rural hospital and the only specialty heart, lung and vascular hospital in the region, we serve as a critical resource for our community. … This investment in our campus will help to broaden that access and do so in a way that is forward thinking and pandemic-ready.”

Judith Persichilli, commissioner of the state Department of Health, along with other state and local dignitaries, joined Ahmad during the announcement, which also included the award of a $550,800 grant for Shore Medical Center, based in Somers Point.

See HOSPITAL/ Page 13

Longtime Southampton Township Committeeman Robert J. Moore

Succumbs at 92, Recalled for Being Kindhearted and Gentlemanly

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—Robert J. Moore, 92, a retired educator who served for 38 years as a Southampton Township committeeman and as deputy mayor for two of those years before retiring from the local government post at the end of 2013, according to his obituary and a previous news report, died Feb. 24 at his home in the Village of Vincentown, with his family by his side.

Moore began his long career with stints teaching 8th grade classes in the Southampton and Pemberton Township school districts and went on to become a guidance counselor at Pemberton Township High School before becoming an administrator and eventually superintendent of schools in Pemberton Township.

Southampton Committeeman and former Mayor James Young, a close friend of Moore for many years, when contacted by phone March 1, described him to the Pine Barrens Tribune as always being “a gentleman from the time I met him until the time he passed away,” as well as a “very kindhearted individual” and an allaround “good guy” who was also very “down to earth” in relating to people.

“If you were to meet him, you’d like him from the beginning,” Young maintained.

In addition to being very knowledgeable about the township, Young said, Moore was also a sports enthusiast with whom he loved to “shoot the breeze” over coffee at a local diner after committee meetings, often about the fortunes of the Phillies and the Eagles.

And while he was highly educated, holding a Master’s Degree from Rutgers University, and

“loved to read,” Moore was a plain-spoken individual who avoided using “big words” in conversing with people, Young recalled.

He was also a “very good family man who was proud of his children and grandchildren,” Young added.

Others attested to Moore’s kindness in the condolence book posted by Perinchief Chapels in Mount Holly, which handled his funeral services.

“Bob was a very special person,” wrote Denise K. Driver. “He will be missed, but never forgotten. I grew up living down the street and our family was very close. I’ll never forget that Bob taught me to drive. When I would visit his daughter, time would pass and it began to get dark. So, Bob decided to let me drive home. It wasn’t even a mile, but he wouldn’t let me walk home. As I was getting ready to learn to drive, he would let me practice on the back streets of Vincentown!” Nancy Eaton, who said she had worked with Moore for many years as a secretary, said she would “always remember him as a very kind person who genuinely cared about the school district and the employees” and “made it a point to know each employee and greet them by name.”

In addition to his council duties, Moore’s community work included serving as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Vincentown, where he was a lifetime member, and as an ex-trustee of the Sally Stretch Keen Memorial Library. Moore is survived by his wife Edna; his children; Edward (Patricia) Moore, Susan (John) Wagner, and Barbara Moore; five grandsons; and a great-granddaughter.

House Destroyed By Four-Alarm Inferno in Tabernacle Township, Vincent Fire Truck Assisting in Water Shuttle Involved in Explosion

TABERNACLE—An inferno that reportedly reached four alarms destroyed a home on South Park Road in Tabernacle Township during the late evening hours of Feb. 28.

A fire truck belonging to Southampton Township-based Vincent Fire Company, in the process of assisting in a water shuttle, was taken offline when its chassis reportedly failed, causing a tire explosion that could be reportedly heard for miles.

According to a social media posting from the Tabernacle Township Fire Department, fire crews were dispatched to the dwelling on South Park Road after receiving a report that a porch was “actively on fire.”

“First arriving units noted the fire had progressed further into the dwelling and was pushing through the roof,” the posting continued. “Crews gained entry and worked to slow the fire’s progression but were met with failing roof joists triggering all members to evacuate the dwelling.”

Fire crews were said to have only been able to re-enter the dwelling once the “bulk of the fire had been extinguished.” Pictures from the scene showed that the home was destroyed.

According to the posting, numerous mutual aid companies, in addition to the firefighters with the Tabernacle Fire Department, remained on the scene for “multiple hours” working to “complete overhaul” and “extinguish hot spots.”

The Tabernacle Fire Department reported that the “homeowners were able to get out of the residence” and that it was smoke detectors in the home that had “notified them of the smoke condition.”

Multiple individuals who claimed to have been in contact with the affected family reported that the residents of the home were unharmed as well as pets and animals.

Horses in a nearby barn were reportedly uninjured in the incident.

A social media posting from the Vincent Fire Company described the affected dwelling as “a large 5,000 square-foot home.”

“Due to no hydrants in the area and the inaccessibility of a nearby pond, Engine 1712 was set up as a water supply engine at the end of the driveway utilizing portable ponds filled by water tenders to feed a 1,000foot supply line up the driveway to the fire,” Vincent Fire wrote. “While operating within the water shuttle operation, our 30-year-old Tender 1716 (known as the “Blue Beast”) suffered a catastrophic chassis failure which caused both front wheels to become extremely hot, and once met with cold water, both tires violently exploded.”

Locals reported an explosion being heard as far away as the Hampton Lakes section of Southampton Township.

The Blue Beast is a replacement fire truck for one that had been destroyed in a wreck in December 2020.

The water tender is actually a blue-colored 1995 HME 4 GUYS model, which previously belonged to the now-defunct Mizpah Fire Company, of Hamilton, Atlantic County, as previously reported by this newspaper.

The Southampton committee purchased it for Vincent Fire for $25,000 in late 2021.

The Vincent Fire Company noted that “thankfully there were no major injuries, but the family did lose almost everything they had in the home.”