Two recent incidents have reignited the debate around whether Secaucus needs additional ambulance service in town.
The national guideline for ambulance response time in an emergency is eight minutes and 59 seconds or less. But a few Secaucus residents have said recently that people have waited far longer for ambulance service in a town that’s a mere 6.5 square miles.
Secaucus contracts its ambulance service through LibertyHealth, the company that owns Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus and Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City.
One LibertyHealth ambulance is permanently based in Secaucus at the hospital, located on Meadowlands Parkway. When an emergency call comes in and this first ambulance is in use, another one is immediately dispatched to a staging area at Manhattan Avenue and Kennedy Blvd. in Jersey City, to be on stand-by in case of a second emergency.
“Our contract with LibertyHealth actually includes a second, or back-up, ambulance already,” said Deputy Mayor John Reilly, who serves as the Town Council’s emergency services liaison. “That back-up ambulance doesn’t sit in town 24 hours a day, but we do have a second ambulance available. Over at Jersey City Medical Center they have a computerized system that can actually predict where the next emergency calls are going to come from. And based on that system, they can dispatch ambulances to staging areas so that they’re ready to respond when 911 calls come through.”
They say an insurance executive waited more than 23 minutes after having a seizure.
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23 minutes and counting
According to witnesses, an insurance executive waited more than 23 minutes for an ambulance last month after having a seizure during a business meeting on Secaucus Road.
“Our security staff dialed 911 and I believe the police got there about nine minutes later. But the ambulance took longer than usual,” said Secaucus resident Pablo Mercado, who works at the company where this incident occurred and has called 911 in the past. “It took so long that the CEO of our company contacted his brother-in-law, who’s involved in law enforcement, to see if he could look into what the delay was.”
The man was eventually taken to the hospital, where he was treated and released the next day.
“Fortunately this gentleman is okay,” Mercado said. “But imagine if he’d had a heart attack or stroke.”
More recently, an ambulance had to be called to Feelgood Restaurant and Lounge. One witness said the wait time was almost 30 minutes. In this incident, a pregnant woman was among those who needed medical attention.
Volunteer ambulance squad phased out
From 1973 until 1990, Secaucus had an all-volunteer ambulance squad that functioned similarly to the Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department. Initially, the squad included two full-time ambulances that were staffed by trained volunteers, many of whom were college students.
“After college, of course, people started getting jobs and we couldn’t staff the squad during the days,” said Joseph Morano, who began volunteering with the service when he was 16 and eventually became its president.
At the time, he and other volunteers hoped the town would continue the service by allowing the volunteers to operate it during weekend and evening shifts, and hire others to staff it during the weekdays.
The town decided not to do this, and instead contracted its ambulance service out to a private company that also provided two ambulances to Secaucus. A few years later the town began contracting with Jersey City Medical Center (now LibertyHealth) and opted for one full-time ambulance at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, with a backup located in Jersey City.
Mutual aid agreement possible
Morano, who is running with mayoral candidate Peter Weiner for the 1st Ward Council seat in the upcoming Democratic primary, has made Secaucus’ ambulance service a political issue in the campaign. The three Independent members of the Town Council – Michael Gonnelli, Gary Jeffas, and John Bueckner – have also periodically raised the ambulance issue.
“What I’ve suggested is looking at the possibility of partnering with another municipality to come up with some kind of shared service agreement,” said Reilly, who is running for re-election in the 3rd Ward with Democratic Mayor Dennis Elwell. “If we were to do that, there might be some grant money available [to buy and maintain] another ambulance that would be shared among a few small municipalities. We’re now exploring that possibility.”
Reilly said Town Administrator David Drumeler and a representative from LibertyHealth are currently meeting with two other municipalities to explore the feasibility of a shared ambulance service. He declined to identify which specific towns are involved in the negotiations.
“The only thing we would be sharing would be the backup ambulance,” Reilly emphasized. “Our current contract with LibertyHealth for the primary ambulance wouldn’t be affected.”
Morano, who now works in the health insurance field, is skeptical.
“I don’t think Reilly’s plan is going to work,” Morano said. “I believe they’re talking to North Bergen and Hoboken about shared services. I still have friends who are EMTs in other towns and what I’m hearing is that they are already stressed and running at full capacity. They wouldn’t be able to handle a mutual aid agreement with Secaucus.”
He said the town should consider using a hybrid ambulance system that would rely on paid and volunteer emergency staff.
Reilly stated that Secaucus would only partner with towns that had the capacity to respond to calls safely and timely.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.