Going mobile

Hospital provides paramedics

By: Stephanie Brown
   MONROE — Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital will staff a crew of two paramedics in the township’s Municipal Plaza at no cost to taxpayers.
   The Mobile Intensive Care Unit will be on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to provide advanced emergency medical assistance beginning today (Friday).
   The Township Council passed a resolution Wednesday approving the five-year contract with the New Brunswick hospital for Monroe to house the MICU in return for the service.
   "The reason, obviously, why we wanted it is because — especially with a lot of retirement communities where people are aging — the difference between two or three minutes of response time with a heart attack, or those kinds of things, is the difference between living and dying," Mayor Richard Pucci said.
   The number of 911 calls in Monroe have been increasing steadily over the past 15 years, from 1,639 when the township’s Municipal Ambulance Service started in 1991 to 7,056 in 2005, said Judy Olbrys, the township’s MAS director.
   Until now, Monroe MAS has been supplemented by MICUs based in East Brunswick, South Brunswick and New Brunswick, said Louis Sasso, director of Emergency Medical Services for the hospital.
   Due to the high volume of calls, an additional unit was necessary in the southern part of Middlesex County, he said.
   "We want to get the medical unit stationed as close to where the calls originate as possible," Mr. Sasso said.
   The unit will also supplement surrounding communities, including Jamesburg, Cranbury, Plainsboro and South Brunswick, Mr. Sasso said.
   The township currently has three stations staffed by paid and volunteer EMTs, but Ms. Olbrys said the nearest hospital from all points in Monroe is 14 miles away.
   "Let’s take away the horror of traffic on Route 18 and the Princeton corridor and construction where they close the shoulder and there’s just no where to go — If you’re having a heart attack it’s going to take me 20 minutes to get to the hospital," Ms. Olbrys said.
   EMTs are only authorized to stabilize patients with the exception of a defibrillator, but paramedics can administer advanced life support.
   Mr. Sasso described the unit as bringing the emergency room to the patient.
   "We can actually begin treating patients above and beyond defibrillators," he said.
   Ms. Olbrys called paramedics the eyes and ears of the emergency room doctor.
   "Having medics on board is a godsend," she said.
   According to the contract, Monroe will not be responsible for any lawsuits, obligations, liabilities or costs incurred in connection with any litigation, including attorney fees, from third party claims resulting from MICU services.
   MICU patients will continue to pay for whatever insurance doesn’t cover, said Mayor Pucci. MAS patients are not charged directly for the township service as funds raised from municipal taxes pay what insurance doesn’t cover, Mayor Pucci said.