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26th
Jan 2015

Berkeley Township Emergency Medical Services. From the office of Mayor Carmen Amato

 
Berkeley Township Emergency Medical Services
 
From the office of Mayor Carmen Amato
 
Press Release: On Thursday January 8, 2015 at 7 pm, the long awaited Berkeley Twp. Emergency Medical Services will go into service. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) will report to work for their first shift at that time. EMT’s will work out of the Holiday City First Aid Squad headquarters at 100 Port Royal Drive. Residents will see no change when they call 911 for an ambulance. These EMT’s will cover the overnight hours from 7 PM to 7 AM the following morning and during the daytime hours on Saturday and Sunday.  Most volunteer First Aid Squads across the State has suffered from a decrease in volunteers and have had to put in place a paid staff to ensure your 911 call does not go unanswered. Berkeley Twp is no different.
 
A few years ago representatives of the local First Aid Squads had approached members of the Public Safety Committee (Mayor Carmen Amato, Council President Judith Noonan, Councilman Tom Grosse and Councilman Jim Byrnes) to see what could be done to assist them with declining membership and volunteer personnel. This committee listened to the squads concerns and applied for an EMS License through the New Jersey State Department of Health. This license allows for the Township to provide Emergency Medical Services. Additionally, an application to bill Medicare was filed about the same time, but was held up at great length at the Federal level. The Medicare application was approved in the Fall of 2014. Without this approval Berkeley Township would not have been able to seek reimbursement from Medicare.
 
All 911 calls are answered by the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and then routed to dispatch an ambulance to your place of emergency.  This service is considered Basic Life Support (BLS).  If your emergency fits a certain criteria (chest pains, difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness) a paramedic unit, known as Advanced Life Support (ALS), will also be dispatched. Berkeley Township EMT’s will assess and treat your condition, and then transport you to the closest appropriate hospital. Health Insurance information will be obtained and billed for reimbursement to pay for the cost of the service. There is no out of pocket expense for Berkeley Township residents for their portion of the BLS ambulance transport.
 
The EMT’s will also respond to community service calls that require no transportation to the hospital, such as “assist and lift” type calls. This will allow for Police Officers to be freed up from having to respond to these types of calls, and allow them to be available for more priority police matters.
 
Berkeley Township EMT’s will be using ambulances that have been donated from your local First Aid Squads. This is a tremendous cost saving measure and could not be possible without the cooperation of the Holiday City at Berkeley First Aid Squad, Silver Ridge Park First Aid Squad and Holiday Heights First Aid Squad. Berkeley Township EMT’s will be operated by the Berkeley Twp Police Department under the supervision of Chief Karin DiMichele.