In efforts to rescue emergency services for the township, Exeter supervisors are preparing a ready team.
During a special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 30, supervisors need to act on the fact that the Exeter Ambulance Association may not exist after March 23, 2015.
Due to a lack of funding and non-reimbursement for services, the EAA was forced to make the announcement that they would not be able to stay financially afloat much longer.
Approved with a 4-0 vote, supervisors agreed to designate the Exeter Volunteer Fire Department as the primary provide of 911 service effective March 23. Supervisor Barry Ziegler was not present.
“We need to be prepared that you aren’t here in 90 days,” Chairperson Jeff Bukowski said to the EAA. “We owe it to the residents to make arrangements…we want to designate [the ETVFD] so they [can] move forward. We can’t have a lapse in coverage for the township.”
The ETVFD has been a licensed EMS service at the QRS non-transport level since 2005 and will need an upgrade in licensing in order to provide 911 service.
Muhlenberg Area Ambulance Association has agreed to provide advance life support and are set to be available for 911 emergency response while the ETVFD fulfills their licensing and training requirements. The Muhlenberg ambulance would be stored in the township. (Southern Berks EMS and Lower Alsace also reached out upon hearing the EAA’s announcement and offered to be Exeter Township’s primary emergency provider.)
Exeter Deputy Fire Chief Chris Chamberlain assured the public that the crew will be prepared to handle emergency duties and expects to surpass the current coverage with their own.
“Other than the color of the ambulance that pulls up to your house” the ETVFD will be “transparent” in the service they provide, he said.
Chamberlain himself is certified as both a firefighter and an EMT and will require that all staff will be duel-trained or cross-trained personnel.
“That person has the ability to do both jobs,” he said.
The ETVFD will provide 24-hour coverage seven days a week with “additional coverage above what is currently offered with 18-hour a day” ambulance.
The full-time ambulance will provide an ALS mobile intensive care unit, staffed with firefighter medics and EMTs.
Even with the ETVFD being the designed emergency care provider, the EAA could still play a role in the township. Supervisor Kenneth A. Smith suggested the township pay the EAA’s loans for the next year. The motion was tabled until the Jan. 12 meeting.
“That would give us breathing room to finish the restructuring process we started last year,” Jon Herbsleb, Chief of Exeter Ambulance Association, said. The EAA has served Berks County for the past 45 years.
The Exeter Township Board of Supervisors will meet 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12 at the township building.
