JERSEY CITY — For months, a debate has raged in Jersey City over which provider to use for 911 ambulance service. One local hospital company said in June 18 letter to the City Council in Jersey City that splitting the city into two zones may work best.
Peter Kelly, senior advisor for external affairs at CarePoint — a company that runs three local hospitals — has proposed splitting ambulance service between McCabe Ambulance and Jersey City Medical Center.
This proposal, Kelly said, would help offset possible financial losses JCMC claims it would suffer if the contract was given solely to McCabe.
“We propose that the city embrace the strengths of both CarePoint and JCMC and create an ambulance system that maximizes the strengths of both organizations,” Kelly wrote, noting the JCMC has used McCabe as a backup support in Jersey City 238 times in 2013. “The best way to facilitate such cooperation is to create two EMS zones, one covered by CarePoint Christ Hospital and its partner McCabe Ambulance, and the other by Jersey City Medical Center, with dispatch activities by both parties monitored by an independent entity appointed by the city.”
CarePoint is encouraging the city to convene a meeting between Christ/CarePoint and JCMC go produce such a system.
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