Private ambulance service to cover days

Citing a lack of available volunteers during the day, Wantage has gone to a hybrid system in which a private ambulance service will cover the town during the day and volunteers will cover the town at night.

“The mayor and committee went to a hybrid service to have people during the day because volunteerism is down,” said Township Administrator Michael Restel.

“It is still the Wantage Township First Aid Squad, but they are doing business as the High Point Regional Emergency Medical Services. High Point will bill the insurance. Nothing goes through the town. They have their third-party billing.”

Restel added that High Point will get its fuel from the town; the town then will bill it on a monthly basis.

Staffing shortages are a problem for first aid squads throughout New Jersey and the nation, especially after the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2023, Bergen County launched a countywide EMS unit to help with calls after volunteer ambulance squads closed in four towns.

Two volunteer squads in Sussex County, the Vernon Township Ambulance Squad and the Glenwood Pochuck Volunteer Ambulance Corps, merged earlier this year, forming Vernon Emergency Medical Services. It provides emergency medical services around the clock in collaboration with Atlantic Mobile Health.