Atlantic City EMS

[ambman142]

Although I agree that NJ municipalities need professional EMS. I'm not in agreement that they need to be ALS providers. Many municipalities don't have the budget to support the number of ALS providers to fully staff their stattions. In addition, many calls are BLS in nature and ALS providers would be overkill. What we need is professional BLS providers, that have made EMS a career choice and not rely on volunteers to be our primary responders. With volunteers you get what you pay for. This is not their profession. They have other jobs and responsibilities and can not continue to fullfill the training requirements and the duty schedule to meet the municipalities needs. With paid personnel, you are guaranteed to have someone manning your stattion and have the proper credentials ( or they don't work). You also can hold an employee to a higher calibre than someone who does it for nothing. I've heard the story before that a volunteer has a higher level of community. That's hogwash, I've been a professional EMT for 25 years and it's always been about patient care, no matter what community I was providing service in.

[FireGuard69]

A little update;

I now work for Mutual Aid Emergency Services, doing SCT driving, interfacility and 9-1-1, and am in the process of changing my residency over to NJ so I can get on civil service. I have heard a few rumors that AtlantiCare is in a bidding war with Exceptional for AC EMS contract. Anybody else heard anything?

[ambman142]

I wouldn't have called it a bidding war, but AtlantiCare did submit a bid for the Atlantic City 911/ EMS contract. The contract however was awarded to Exceptional Medical Transport for another 3 years.

[mediccjh]

I've written a couple of pieces on NJ EMS and their related shenanigans. It seems now many towns are starting to get on board with the idea of paid municpal EMS... BLS only now, because of the certifcate of need crap, but who knows, give it a couple of years and New Jersey Townships may actually have paid professional ALS response.

All towns have paid ALS response. ALS in New Jersey is only done by the hospitals, because it's the law. It's not like PA where there are volly ALS agencies. All the ALS projects in NJ are busy because there aren't a lot spread across the state; the list is on the NJ OEMS website. NJ medics are some of the busiest per capita in the nation because of the spread.

[Asysin2leads]

It's not the hospital basis law that makes NJ's system what it is, its the certificate of need coupled with the greed and shortsightedness of the local volunteer squads. I have nothing but respect for the medics in New Jersey, given the low pay and shabby treatment they recieve.

[678 Responding]

ACTUALLY, it is the law that states it needs to be run by a hospital system. The certificate of need can not be submitted by any other entity than a hospital system. Technically it could, but the application would NEVER get accepted. Also, the last time I checked, NJ has one of the highest paid medics in the nation. I know they make more up north, but down in the south of the state, they start around 20/hr which is still pretty sad.

[Asysin2leads]

ACTUALLY, it is the law that states it needs to be run by a hospital system. The certificate of need can not be submitted by any other entity than a hospital system. Technically it could, but the application would NEVER get accepted. Also, the last time I checked, NJ has one of the highest paid medics in the nation. I know they make more up north, but down in the south of the state, they start around 20/hr which is still pretty sad.

And I'm sure the nice people at MONOC et al. pay quite a few bucks each year to make sure the law stays on the books. The fact of the matter is that given the healthcare and tax dollars expendited versus the overall care (meaning response times, level of service, etc.) given, New Jersey comes up very, very short in EMS.

[ambman142]

It's not the hospital basis law that makes NJ's system what it is, its the certificate of need coupled with the greed and shortsightedness of the local volunteer squads. I have nothing but respect for the medics in New Jersey, given the low pay and shabby treatment they recieve.

It's not the volunteer squads that are short sighted or greedy. The volunteer squads can not run ALS, because they can't obtain a Certificate of Need. ALS Cert. of Need can only be held by a hospital based system. As for hosp. based ALS, such as Monoc, Virtua, UMDNJ, AtlantiCare, etc., they are better suited to run the ALS programs, since they provide the medical control, Q&A, etc. Municipal squads can not afford to to even attempt to do this much less volunteer squads. Some of the vollys bearly can afford to equip a BLS ambulance. As I mentioned before, having paid personnel gives you the opportunity to be more selective in who staffs your rigs. Whether it be BLS or ALS, and most municipalities can only afford to provide BLS. Most of the calls are of a BLS nature anyway.

[resqrat369]

I've written a couple of pieces on NJ EMS and their related shenanigans. It seems now many towns are starting to get on board with the idea of paid municpal EMS... BLS only now, because of the certifcate of need crap, but who knows, give it a couple of years and New Jersey Townships may actually have paid professional ALS response.

Cherry Hill EMS in Camden County NJ took it upon them selves to start hiring Medics in order to try to start running ALS trucks which has yet to happen (and I doubt it will). Camden County has five hospital based medic units stationed through out the county, plus Burlington County has five units through out the county with one of them based in Mt. Laurel just outside of Cherry Hill.

[FireGuard69]

OCFD has MICU Medics on staff as well. They dont run ALS...yet, but with only 2 medic units close by, I cant see why not