WEST WINDSOR — The township has stopped dispatching the Twin W First Aid Squad for emergency calls.
Twin W has been serving the West Windsor Township community since 1972. The 100 percent all-volunteer squad is a nonprofit community service organization that does not charge for ambulance transports and relies on donations from residents and local businesses as well as funding from the township.
In 2014, the township budgeted $30,000 for the squad but has yet to give the squad $15,000 of that amount.
“We were told in late February that we had to sign the new memo of understanding in order to receive a budget appropriation that was already authorized in 2014,” said Brian Solomon, Twin W First Aid Squad president and deputy chief. “So even though we should have received the second $15,000 on Jan. 1, and despite handling the first quarter of calls (January-March) for free to the township, that funding continues to be withheld and that funding is now being used toward the labor costs of covering our hours since the shutdown.
“In effect, the squad did the work it had agreed to perform yet has not received the minor compensation it was promised in the original signed memo of understanding.”
Township officials contend that the squad had to sign a new memo of understanding to earn the rest of the money.
“We have been working with the squad attorney and township attorney since late December 2014 on the new memo of understanding and, after working on the wording for several weeks, both parties came to an agreement on March 23 at around 6 p.m. when the township attorney called the Twin W attorney to confirm we were ready to sign the agreement,” Deputy Chief Solomon said. “A little after 8 p.m., Twin W’s attorney was notified that the township decided to go in a different direction, which is perfectly within their right to do. We don’t believe that the township negotiated in good faith to the detriment of the taxpayers and residents of West Windsor.”
The council voted unanimously that night to stop dispatching Twin W to emergency calls effective 7 p.m. March 24.
Twin W had a deadline of March 16 to sign the memo of understanding, according to both the council and Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh.
Mayor Hsueh said the township has a backup plan to continue to provide all needed emergency services.
“We have our own in-house professional employees, 12 staff members, and what we need to do is they will be asked to extend their working hours to cover longer periods of time,” Mayor Hsueh said.
He also noted that the township has two volunteer fire departments and that all police officers are trained to deal with emergencies.
“In the meantime, we will set up a new structure to try to integrate potential or current (EMS) volunteers who want to get involved,” Mayor Hsueh said. “We still will be looking for volunteers to serve in the organization. We actually still could make some readjustments for that purpose. In the meantime, we will use what is available.”
He said there would be more of a cost to the township for emergency medical services as some overtime will be needed but he did not estimate that cost.
The mayor explained that the necessity for a memo of understanding between Twin W and the township stemmed from a picnic held in 2012.
“The volunteers came in with furry suits and there was some negative publicity in all local newspapers then,” he said. “We were under public pressure to take some responsibility for the Twin W to have no negative publicity because it still carries the name of West Windsor … and the township does provide them with funding and most of their equipment for operations.”
The mayor said he is sorry to see that “we’ve come to this point” but that “there was a deadline for Twin W to sign the (memo of understanding).”
Deputy Chief Solomon alleges that it will cost the township almost $200,000 to staff the hours Twin W staffed for free and that insurance would only reimburse about $150,000 of the transport costs.
“If the insurance company pays all of it — the $150,000 — they’re still already in the hole $50,000,” he said. “We just don’t get enough calls for them to do it paid. At best, they’ll break even. At worst, the taxpayers are going to get socked.”
The deputy chief said he’s more concerned about the 10 percent of calls that go to a second call, which would now mean an ambulance from a surrounding community would have to respond.
“That person could be waiting 20 minutes for an ambulance from Lawrence, Plainsboro or Princeton and they’re the ones who are going to be negatively affected by this,” Deputy Chief Solomon said. “We’d like to help but unfortunately we’re being told we can’t, but that’s their prerogative.”
Twin W volunteers answered 730 calls in 2014, missing one first call the entire year because a crew member was stuck in traffic right at the start of the shift. Of the 730 calls, 64 calls (almost 10 percent) were during the daytime with Twin W assembling a full crew for 48 of those calls.
Twin W has answered142 calls since Jan.1 of this year.
The squad currently has more than 50 volunteers that are emergency medical technicians and 10 who volunteer on the administrative side
“If they said they can do this better and thank you for your service, I don’t think any of the members would have minded it so much,” Deputy Chief Solomon said.
Although the squad can not answer calls, Twin W still exists, according to Deputy Chief Solomon. He said the trustees would have to figure out what to do with the squad building. He said renting it out for EMT training and community functions are options.
“At the end of the day it costs us $20,000 for utilities,” he said.
The squad has an EMS bike team that it houses there but the team is going to need its own insurance and will rely on donations.
