Hopewell Township Fire District steps in providing emergency medical services in Pennington
There are “no gaps” in service with the closure of Pennington First Aid Squad operations, which closed due to a lack of volunteers.
As of March 1, the Hopewell Township Fire District has been providing emergency services to Pennington residents through their career staff, and staff from the Union Fire Company & Rescue Squad Inc. and the Hopewell Borough Fire Company.
The fire district will continue to provide those services through April 3. That is when the contract with Capital Health for emergency medical services t will.
Capital Health will have one Capital Health ambulance covering Hopewell Valley on a 24/7 basis.
Mayor James Davy informed Pennington residents at a Pennington Council meeting on March 6 that ambulance services are still occurring before the Capital Health service begins.
The Council passed an interlocal services agreement with Hopewell Township Fire District on Feb. 28 to provide ambulance service to the borough from March 1 to April 3.
The Pennington First Aid Squad (PFAS) made it last call on March 1. It was a mutual aid call to a neighboring town, according to the PFAS website.
“On April 3, Capital Health will take over through the end of that contract period. We will then negotiate continued service beyond April 3, 2024,” Davy said.
Pennington is contributing $25,230 to the $200,000 cost for emergency medical services coverage from Capital Health for the year.
To ease residents’ concerns about a March gap in emergency medical services, Hopewell Township and Hopewell Township Fire District No. 1 had released a statement to the public announcing that there would be no interruption in service.
Career staff from the Township Emergency Services are filling in on the night shift, along with per diems and volunteers from Titusville and Hopewell Borough, and services are being staged at the Pennington First Aid Squad facility at 110 Broemel Place in Pennington, according to the township and fire district.
“This cost will be shared by all the local municipalities,” they said.
They added that come April, the Capital Health ambulance will free up staff at Titusville and Hopewell Borough.
“We will be able to call on these staff and volunteers when a second call is necessary,” they said. “We want to give special thanks to the remaining volunteers, who are going above and beyond to get us through this month between PFAS and Capital Health. They are true community heroes.”