BUZZWORTHY
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Totowa
Wayne
FLOWERS FOR SOLACE, NOT CELEBRATION
In the beginning of April, reporter Philip DeVencentis wrote about DAYNA
MONTAINA, owner of flower shop BLOOMS OF WAYNE, and her response to Gov.
Phil Murphy’s executive order to shut down non-essential retail businesses. The local
florist spent hours emptying her shop’s walk-in refrigerators of carnations, daisies
and roses, and delivering them — one at a time — to random homes around the
township. Each stem had a care tag, with a handwritten note, wrapped around it.
If arranged in baskets and bouquets, the flowers she was now giving away would
have fetched thousands of dollars, she said at the time. “You can fall into despair, or
you can rise above it,” she noted. “If I had to be closed, there was no reason why I
couldn’t take that time to try to do something for other people.”
Montaina hit about six dozen homes on side streets off Ratzer Road during an
afternoon delivery. Residents of Beechwood and Chestnut drives found red roses on
their front stoops, or carefully placed on their mailboxes. “You just hope that one
flower falls on the person that day who needs it the most,” the township native said.
Montaina said she never considered saving the flowers until the executive order
was lifted because they would no longer be fresh enough to sell. And, simply letting
them go bad was not an option either.
“It would be such a waste, when so many people could use that one little pick-me-
up that might make them go out and do something for someone else.”
Since then, Montaina says, Blooms of Wayne closed for a couple of weeks, then
reopened again to provide contact-free delivery. She’s found that her goods and ser-
vices are needed, though for a sad reason. “Everything we’re doing is a sympathy or
a get well gift,” she says. “We want to get flowers out there to people with losses.
They can’t have others around them, so they want flowers instead. We’re supporting
people who can’t even mourn properly. Thank God I’m in a position where I can
provide that.” • (973) 616-0660, bloomsofwayne.com
6
MAY 2020 WAYNE MAGAZINE
A Totowa-based company is donat-
ing 500 medical-grade mattress covers
to Englewood Health to be used to
keep hospital beds from transmitting
viruses. PRECISION TEXTILES, a sup-
plier of coated fabrics and laminations
for bedding, is donating the covers as
the need for protective gear and hospi-
tal equipment becomes more urgent.
“Community hospitals are the lifeblood
of our health care system, and
Englewood Hospital happens to be at
the front line for our community in this
battle against COVID-19,” says CEO
Scott Tesser. “My family lives in
Englewood, and because of our connec-
tion to the community, we felt a deep
need to help meet the hospital’s needs.”
Tesser notes that New Jersey is one
of the states hit hardest in the pandem-
ic and that health care workers and
medical professionals are working to
meet the demand as the number of
cases continues to grow. “As a New
Jersey-based company, we have a solu-
tion that can help assure a sterile bed
for people who are ill,” Tesser says.
“During this national crisis, we have
the expertise and the materials to be
able to provide assistance, and we’re
more than happy to offer both.”
According to the company, the mat-
tress encasements are manufactured
with fabric that meets level-four classi-
fication by the Association for the
Advancement of Medical Instrumen-
tation. It is the most protective level
for textiles used in health care facili-
ties. Without disinfection, the corona-
virus that causes COVID-19 can sur-
vive for hours on surfaces, the National
Institutes of Health has reported.
>
PHOTO
MEDICAL-GRADE
MATTRESSES TO
THE RESCUE