Rural Metro ambulance service leaving New jersey

[WAS967 97]

http://nbs.gmnews.com/news/2006/0427/Front_Page/033.html

Rural Metro ambulance service leaving the state

No. Brunswick EMTs say emergency service will not be affected by change

BY JENNIFER AMATO

Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - The township's First Aid and Rescue Squad (NBRARS) does

not believe it will be affected by Rural Metro's decision to phase out its

ambulance service in New Jersey by April 30.

The company and the rescue squad had a renewable and revisable contract

instituted since 2000, in which the two had a "sound and professional"

relationship, according to squad President Linda Warhaftig. The township

does not own its own ambulance because of cost ineffectiveness, so Rural

Metro would guarantee one ambulance to the township, and also had a second

float truck available to the township and other surrounding towns.

"Honestly, our daytime hours will not be threatened by Rural Metro exiting

New Jersey. When we heard about their leaving our biggest concern was not,

'What are we going to do for an ambulance?' but 'What are all those poor

people going to do now that they are unemployed?' We have worked with

these people for over six years and have come to know and respect them as

fellow [emergency medical technicians]. But unlike the volunteer who has

other income avenues, the Rural Metro people were career EMTs," she said.

During Rural Metro's involvement with North Brunswick, if a rescue squad

member were on the scene, Rural Metro staff would be dispatched under the

NBRARS paging system and operate under their command. The licensed Rural

Metro EMTs would operate under the rescue squad and the regulations of the

Department of Health Office of Emergency Medical Services.

"We had an ongoing contract for service with them. It was the NBRARS way

of guaranteeing our residents at least one ambulance during the day and

[our] volunteers staffed a second one," Warhaftig said.

Since the rescue squad is currently working on an agreement with the

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson

University Hospital to have their basic life support ambulance cover the

town, and because advanced life support already is a service provided by

UMDNJ-RWJ, Warhaftig believes the decision of Rural Metro to exit New

Jersey will not be detrimental to North Brunswick residents.

"The patient shouldn't notice any change," she said. "I am very surprised

[that] when a patient asks me for their ambulance report and I ask them if

they were in our truck or Rural Metro's, they have no clue. Many people

won't even know from where the ambulance picking them up came from. And in

an emergency, the patient shouldn't care, just as long as one gets there

in a reasonable amount of time based on the patient's condition."

The decision by Rural Metro to leave the state was related to business

matters, according to reports

Edited April 30, 2006 by WAS967