By Hannan Adely
Herald News
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. — The township will launch a paid ambulance service to help overworked volunteers and improve emergency response time.
The Township Council approved the measure in a vote on Monday after hearing pleas from Fire Chief Jack Sweezy about the need for paid staff during daytime hours, when call volume is highest and volunteer staffing is lowest.
“Demand is above and beyond what they’re doing, and they are tired, too,” Sweezy said. “So we need to put something in place that is more effective and puts less wear-and-tear on the membership.”
Volunteers typically are on call seven days a week. But there have been occasions when no one is available, and mutual aid from neighboring towns has to be called in, Sweezy said. In 2010, Little Falls logged about 1,160 calls, with about 205 being referred to mutual aid.
This year, the department has had 1,368 calls. Sweezy said he did not know why the numbers had spiked but added that the volume of calls has been growing the past five years. He estimated there were four to five calls for ambulance service each day.
Part-time EMTs
With a new paid ambulance service, the township expects to hire 16 to 18 part-time emergency medical technicians to share shifts. The ambulance service will have two staff members on duty from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week, and volunteers will cover night shifts.
The annual operating cost for a paid ambulance service is estimated at $310,000, said Township Administrator Henry Underhill. But Underhill said the ambulance service would eventually pay for itself, with income from a flat ambulance service rate of $800.
“Theoretically, it’s going to be a zero as far as impact on taxes,” Underhill said. “After the initial startup, the anticipation is it will pay for itself in terms of billing.”
But Councilwoman Mercedes Gonzalez, the lone council member to vote against the measure, said she was not convinced of the numbers. She said the fire chief’s presentation lacked critical information, including comparisons of ambulance services in similar-size towns.
The Eagle Rescue Squad, which provides emergency medical services at Eagle Hose Company 1, also expressed opposition to a paid ambulance service in letters to township officials.
Robert Ingram, president of the rescue squad and the Eagle Hose Co., said he expected costs to be higher than estimated because he believed the chief’s proposal did not fully account for the cost of training and capital equipment.
Ingram said there were about 15 volunteers available for ambulance shifts now. Those volunteers responded to 80 percent of all ambulance calls in Little Falls, with an average time of 5 minutes; 40 seconds, he said.
“Little Falls falls well within the national average,” he said, adding that the average response time during daytime hours was 6 1/2 minutes.
Ingram said there were other solutions to staffing, including allowing a single EMT to respond to a scene; requiring volunteers to work a duty shift during the day on weekends; and expanding the areas from which members are allowed to join.
There already is a policy in place that requires members who do not live in the township to remain at the Eagle Hose Company 1 while on duty so as not to delay response time, Ingram said.
“I understand their concerns,” Ingram said. “We just believe there is a better option to improve service and keep costs to a minimum.”
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