Agreements, Approved and Pending, Clear The Way for Tri-Boro EMS to Remain Alive

Ambulances from Tri-Boro First Aid. (Photo: Tri-Boro First Aid Squad/Facebook)

Seaside Heights officials this week approved the first of what is expected to be three agreements between island communities that will keep the Tri-Boro EMS squad active and providing emergency medical services to island residents.

As the largest user of the services of the squad, Seaside Heights was tasked with being the lead agency in determining a path forward when Tri-Boro notified the three communities – which also include Seaside Park and South Seaside Park – that it was experiencing financial difficulties and would not be able to continue operating under the status quo. The news came in August, leaving the towns with several options, including dissolving Tri-Boro and forming a new full-time paid EMS squad or contracting with a private firm that would provide on-call EMTs. Ultimately, a third option emerged after Seaside Heights solicited proposals for EMS services: Tri-Boro would, itself, become that provider and be funded by the three towns.

Ultimately, Tri-Boro submitted the only bid received by Seaside Heights, which was acting as lead agency for the three towns. Their multi-year proposal called for $4.2 million divided between the three communities, in which each would be charged $800,000 annually for the first three years and $900,000 annually for the final two years, which would be optional. On Wednesday, Seaside Heights voted to approve a shared services agreement with Seaside Park and Berkeley Township (South Seaside Park) that would pave the way for that contract to be approved. Seaside Park officials will vote on whether to approve the identical agreement at its meeting Thursday night, and Berkeley Township is expected to consider the measure at its next council meeting.

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“We’re the lead agency, so if they say, ‘yes we’re going along with you,’ we’ll award the contract in January,” said Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz.

The events leading up to the agreement were familiar to many New Jersey residents who have followed the slow-but-steady demise of volunteer first aid squads over the last decade or more. Tri-Boro had operated under a unique hybrid system that included both volunteers and paid EMTs, but had found it difficult to attract new volunteers due to a combination of national trends and more intensive – and expensive – training requirements that came at the behest of various interests that lobbied the state to impose the new mandates on all EMTs in recent years.

Seaside Heights Borough Administrator Christopher Vaz said like many first aid squads, Tri-Boro had also been finding it more difficult to operate under the financial constraints of a state law that limits the amount of funds local governments can donate to local first aid squads, including nonprofits, as well as “inadequately low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement schedules.” The state statute caps the maximum amount municipalities can donate at $125,000.

Seaside Heights accounts for about 70 percent of Tri-Boro’s calls. Other island towns, including Toms River and Brick, operate paid EMS services through their police departments. In recent years, volunteer squads in Ortley Beach and Dover-Brick have shut their doors, with the Dover-Brick squad’s building having been demolished in favor of residential development. The sole remaining all-volunteer EMS squad on the island-proper is Lavallette First Aid, which has raised its own concerns over volunteer recruiting in recent years. Point Pleasant Beach also operates a volunteer squad.