[Ord. #1797, 7-26-2005, added]
The purpose of this section is to preserve and
enhance the availability of volunteer first aid squad services for
legitimate medical emergency situations in the Township by reducing
the use of volunteer first aid squad services in certain nonemergency
situations.
[Ord. #1797, 7-26-2005, added]
All state-licensed nursing homes, rest homes, health maintenance organizations, assisted living facilities, health care facilities providing inpatient services and other licensed medical care providers with the capacity to treat 10 or more outpatients simultaneously (collectively, "patient care facilities") within the Township are hereby required to own, lease, rent or have promptly available by other arrangement sufficient appropriately staffed private ambulance services for the treatment and transport of patients in need of nonemergency medical care. Such ambulance services shall be available 365 days a year and 24 hours a day, and shall be utilized for all calls for medical care and transport of patients except in those situations defined in § 3-17.4.
[Ord. #1797, 7-26-2005, added]
Each patient care facility subject to this section
shall file proof of the availability of private ambulance services
with the Township Clerk within 60 days after final passage of this
section, and on or before September 1 of each year thereafter. For
purposes of this subsection, proof of private ambulance availability
shall consist of a contract with one or more private ambulance service
providers under which such providers are obliged to respond promptly
to the patient care facility. If a patient care facility elects to
own and operate its own ambulance, such proof shall consist of documentation
of the make, model, year, color, serial number, license plate number,
location and staffing of such ambulance. In addition, at the time
such proof is filed each year, the resident director, manager or authorized
corporate officer of each patient care facility shall make and file
with the Township Clerk a signed certification that adequate private
ambulance services are available, and that all agents and employees
of such facility involved with patient care have been apprised of
and trained in the use of such private ambulance services.
[Ord. #1797, 7-26-2005, added]
A patient care facility subject to this section
may request the dispatch of a volunteer first aid squad from the Township
in those emergency circumstances that meet the criteria for dispatch
of "advanced life support" or paramedic units, as defined in N.J.S.A.
26:2K-7 et seq., and regulations promulgated thereunder. Such circumstances
include, by way of example and subject to statutory and regulatory
clarifications and amendments, sudden-onset chest pain suspected to
be cardiac in nature, other cardiac emergency, difficulty in breathing,
sudden loss of consciousness, suspected stroke, diabetic emergency,
life-threatening hemorrhaging and life-threatening trauma and/or hypoperfusion
(shock). The dispatch of a volunteer first aid squad may also be requested
in cases of suspected spinal or other major skeletal injury and/or
extreme pain that precludes movement of a patient without immediate
and appropriate immobilization precautions. Regardless of nature,
chronic or persistent medical conditions or symptoms exhibited by
patients shall not, absent significant and acute complications, be
cause for request of a volunteer first aid squad by a patient care
facility. Likewise, the decision by a patient, a patient's medical
professional or a patient's family member to hospitalize the patient
for evaluation or testing shall not warrant the dispatch of a volunteer
first aid squad.
[Ord. #1797, 7-26-2005, added]
It shall constitute a violation of this section for any patient care facility, or any agent or employee thereof, to cause or abet the making of any false report to the Township requesting that a volunteer first aid squad be dispatched to the facility. For purposes of this subsection, "false report" shall be defined as any circumstance in which an agent or employee of a patient care facility calls, or causes or encourages another person to call, the Township to request the dispatch of a volunteer first aid squad for treatment and/or transport of a patient at that facility in circumstances that do not warrant such a dispatch as set forth in § 3-17.4, above.
[Ord. #1797, 7-26-2005, added]
a.
Any person, firm, association, partnership, company,
joint venture or corporation violating any of the provisions of this
section shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or 90 days
in jail, or both, for each such violation. Each day a violation continues
and/or each time a false report is made shall constitute a separate
violation. It shall not be a defense to any violation of the provisions
of this section that private ambulance services were not available
promptly when requested.
b.
Any Township police officer who, in the course of performing official duties, has cause to believe that a false report (as defined in § 3-17.5, above) has been made shall be authorized to write and serve on the patient care facility and/or the individual(s) responsible for the violation a summons or summonses requiring personal appearance in Municipal Court to hear and adjudicate the charge of making a false report.
