Measure Would Permit Volunteer Paramedics to Assist in Mobile Intensive Care Units

Senator Robert Singer’s bill helping address a critical shortage of paramedics was signed by the Governor today.

Sen. Robert Singer’s bill helping address a critical shortage of paramedics using volunteer paramedics to respond to emergencies is now law. (SenateNJ.com)

The new law, A-6132/S-4235, allows volunteer paramedics to respond to emergencies and operate within mobile intensive care units.

“This will allow us to have more paramedics on the road and faster response times to emergencies,” said Singer (R-30). “There is a worsening crisis here in New Jersey and across the nation, and the pandemic has made things that much worse.

“The desperate need for skilled paramedics far exceeds the current supply. This new law will help close the gap with volunteers who are trained, field-tested and willing to help,” noted Singer.

A recent survey conducted by the American Ambulance Association found that nearly a third of the workforce left their ambulance companies after less than a year. It also found that turnover among paramedics and EMTs average close to 30 percent each year, or more than 100 percent turnover every four years.

“Those are unsustainable statistics,” Singer said. “In New Jersey we have to do something to protect the emergency services, so they are available when we need them. This measure builds on a program that has been safely and efficiently operated for more than a decade in Northern Ocean County and it can be just as effective in the rest of the state.”

Singer’s measure codifies an active program in Ocean County that is operated by RWJBarnabas Health after years under the auspices of Monmouth Ocean Hospital Services Corporation. The current program is approved to use volunteer advanced life support squads and paramedics.