Edina Police, Firefighters Help with Relief Efforts in New York

Three of Edina's finest recently traveled to New York to help those in need in the wake of Superstorm Sandy's devastation of the East Coast.

Paramedic/Firefighter Ryan Quinn, Fire Lt. Jeff Siems and Police Officer Eric Carlson traveled to Queens in New York as part of the Minnesota Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MN-1 DMAT). They spent two weeks in the New York borough, where more than 130 homes were reported damaged or destroyed during the storm.

"Even though we’re halfway across the country, we’re fortunate to be able to provide assistance to those affected by Hurricane Sandy," said Police Lt. Jeff Elasky.

MN-1 DMAT's goal is to supplement national medical responses by assisting state and local emergency responders. The team responds to major emergencies and federally declared disasters, including natural disasters, major transportation accidents, technology disaster and acts of terrorism.

The volunteers train regularly throughout the year to ensure they're prepared to act when called to duty. Additional information on the team is available at www.mndmat.com.

Patch readers can also get in on the relief efforts by going to http://rebuilds.patch.com/edina. For every tweet sent with the hashtag #PatchRebuilds, we will donate $1 to the AmeriCares Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Fund, up to $125,000.

Your contribution will go toward medical and humanitarian aid, grants and programs to help Sandy survivors.

You can simply tweet the hashtag #PatchRebuilds, or go to our Patch Rebuilds website and tweet directly from the site.

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