Paid emergency medical technicians will supplement the efforts of volunteers on the Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad.
The impending employment of career EMTs will mark the first time in the squad’s 74-year history that the all-volunteer organization will employ paid professionals.
The first aid squad has its headquarters on Sanford Street, Manalapan.
According to the squad’s website, the organization has formed a third party entity to support the volunteers in their service to Englishtown and Manalapan.
The new entity is named Western Monmouth Emergency Medical Services Inc. (WMEMS) and is a licensed Basic Life Support agency with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
WMEMS will bill a patient’s insurance carrier to redeem the ambulance transportation fee as provided by law, according to the website.
First aid squad President John Cuccia said WMEMS will provide paid EMTs to assist in staffing ambulances when volunteers are not available, especially during the daytime.
Cuccia said funding for the first aid squad began dropping off several years ago when the economy experienced a downturn.
“Donations were falling off and people started working two or three jobs so volunteers started to fall off as well,” he said. “First it was a financial problem, but it has turned into a member problem because people are working extra jobs. We bill insurance companies for our services … we should have thought about doing it years ago.”
WMEMS will increase the level of services provided and relieve the governing bodies of Englishtown and Manalapan from costs they were paying to support the first aid squad, according to the first aid squad’s website.
The cost savings are estimated to be about $250,000 per year, according to the website.
Cuccia, who has been a volunteer member of the first aid squad since 1990, said a lot has changed in 25 years. “Our costs and call volume have gone up, but donations and manpower have gone down,” he said. “By billing the insurance companies, it takes a big chunk of the financial burden off the (two) towns as well.”
Cuccia said the first aid squad has had problems staffing crews during the day and he said the EMTs will help fill those gaps. He said the goal is to have the professionals supplement the volunteers, but not replace them.
“The EMTs fill holes in the schedule,” Cuccia said. “They are there to support the first aid squad, not take it over.”
As part of the changes being implemented, the first aid squad will have two crews available during the day.
“One of the biggest problems we have comes from second and third calls,” Cuccia said. “When (the crew) is out on a first call and we receive a second call or even a third call, that is where we get caught with a lack of manpower.”
He said having per diem EMTs on as backup crews will ensure that second and third calls for assistance will be handled.
The EMTs will likely be paid between $13 and $15 per hour to start, depending on their level of training and experience, according to Cuccia.
Cuccia said the first aid squad has been a volunteer organization since 1941 and he said the squad still welcomes the participation of people who want to serve their community.
“Volunteers will remain in control,” he said. “This has been their place since 1941; we just need help because things have changed.”