Plainfield signs agreement with Dunellen, Piscataway rescue squads

PLAINFIELD – The Dunellen Rescue Squad and the Piscataway-based River Road Rescue Squad have a memorandum of agreement approved by the City Council to provide mutual aid to city residents, in addition to the Plainfield Rescue Squad.

But Timothy Lowe, Plainfield Rescue Squad president, said the need for additional squads is not due to his squad dropping the ball.

"We don't miss calls purposely. If we miss a call it's because we're at a hospital," Lowe said at Monday's City Council meeting, adding each hospital visit includes a 15-to-20-minute turnaround time.

"My crew works hard," Lowe said about the squad that dates to the 1950s and answers about 15 calls a day as well as attends city events and festivals. "We go to everything from Band-Aids to gunshot calls."

Lowe said there is a shortage of EMTs and yet in one year with one truck the Plainfield squad responded to 7,000 calls.

Business Administrator Abby Levenson said the Plainfield Rescue Squad has received a new vehicle from the county, but often it’s still short of vehicles and manpower and has other issues which prevent the city from relying solely on that squad for the services needed.

She said JFK Medical Center and Union County also respond to Plainfield for services.

"We're not always first priority. We have many non-emergency emergencies that require EMS but are not urgent and so it can take hours sometimes," Levenson said, adding the Dunellen Rescue Squad and the River Road Rescue Squad reached out the city to say they have been responding to Plainfield calls more frequently in the past six months.

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Levenson said the two squads are solely volunteer organizations based outside of the city which incur fuel costs in association with coming to Plainfield, and fuel is currently expensive. She said the city also has a large population of uninsured patients and the rescue squads are not always able to bill patients for the services the squad is providing.

She said the Dunellen and River Road squads plan to continue providing service in Plainfield and answering EMS calls in a timely fashion, but they can't lose money doing it. She said as part of the memorandum of agreement, the city will provide the rescue squads with fuel. The rescue squads will be able to fuel up diesel vehicles at the city yard and regular gas rescue vehicles at the city's police department, according to the agreement.

Councilwoman Ashley Davis questioned what the impact would be on the amount the city has budgeted for fuel of city vehicles.

Levenson said the city will be looking into that issue.

Davis also expressed concern about wanting to help the Plainfield Rescue Squad. She didn't want to see the city let another rescue group in that would push out the Plainfield Rescue Squad, which is made up of community members.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.