The Holmdel Township Committee has unanimously adopted an ordinance that reserves ambulance and first responder services from the Holmdel First Aid Squad for emergency medical services only.
According to the ordinance, patient care facilities in Holmdel have been routinely placing phone calls to the first aid squad and requesting transportation services for non-emergency medical services for individuals at those facilities.
The volunteer first responders from the first aid squad are unable to respond to true emergencies when they are being asked to respond to non-life-threatening situations, according to the ordinance.
Committee members adopted the ordinance on July 18. No residents or members of the first aid squad commented on the ordinance when given the opportunity to do so during a public hearing that preceded the committee’s vote.
The new municipal law will require Holmdel’s patient care facilities to establish private ambulance transport services for medical services that do not require immediate action from emergency first responders.
The law discourages the use of emergency vehicles for non-emergency medical services. The law will increase the likelihood that first responders will be available when their assistance is needed in life-threatening situations, according to the ordinance.
Mayor Tom Critelli, Deputy Mayor Gregory Buontempo, Committeeman Eric Hinds, Committeeman Rocco Pascucci and Committeeman Michael Nikolis voted to adopt the ordinance.
“Thank God. Thank you for doing this. This is a step in the right direction,” Nikolis said before voting “yes.” The committeeman is the president of the first aid squad.
In a subsequent interview, Nikolis said volunteers from the Holmdel First Aid Squad receive dozens of calls per month for non-emergency dispatches of first responders.
He said “staffed nursing facilities will call in about patients who have abnormal blood work” and request urgent services from emergency responders at the Holmdel First Aid Squad, although an emergency does not exist.
Nikolis, who has been a first responder for 18 years, said private ambulance companies have a two to four hour window for response time for non-emergency situations.
Nikolis said it is more convenient and timely for patient care facilities to contact the local first aid squad.
He said volunteers are able to dispatch an ambulance and arrive within a fifteen minute time frame to a scene where medical services are needed.
“This is abusing and taxing to our resources,” Nikolis said.
Patient care facilities – nursing homes, rest homes, assisted living facilities, health care facilities that provide in-patient services, and other organizations that provide health services – will be subject to the new law.
A healthcare facility that requests emergency transportation services for medical attention that is not urgent from the first aid squad will pay a fee of $750 for the dispatch of a volunteer emergency responder, according to the ordinance.
Volunteers from the Holmdel First Aid Squad respond to an average of 1,500 calls each year. Since Jan. 1, the squad has treated 843 individuals who were in need of emergency medical services, according to the organization’s website.