Governor Murphy on Tuesday signed into law bills A-6132/S-4235 that will allow volunteer paramedics to operate within mobile intensive care units, providing a tremendous boost to Hatzolah’s paramedic response time.
As previously reported on TLS, the bill was sponsored in the Assembly by frum Assemblyman Gary Schaer, and in the Senate by Senators Bob Singer and Vin Gopal, all of whom put in extensive effort to get the legislation through the Legislature.
The bill, now law, allows Hatzolah paramedics working under the umbrella of hospital paramedic units to provide high-level care while responding from their own personal vehicles.
Until now, paramedics working for hospital systems and providing services to Hatzolah have been required to respond in special paramedic vehicles, with paramedics required to await the arrival of a paramedic partner to provide medical care.
Numerous other askanim were also involved in the effort to get the bill passed, including Agudath Israel New Jersey Director Rabbi Avi Schnall.
“We are very grateful to Governor Murphy for swiftly signing this critical piece of legislation,” said Rabbi Schnall. “This is literally a lifesaving bill whose importance and necessity has been obvious from a number of emergency situations over the past few weeks alone.”
“A special thank you to Assemblyman Schaer for shepherding this bill through to the finish line as well as Senator Singer and Senator Gopal,” he added.
“My colleagues in the New Jersey Legislature unanimously passed these reforms to bring critical support to our overburdened healthcare system,” said Assemblyman Schaer. “Paramedic staffing shortages lower the quality of care and place residents at increased risk during a health emergency. Hatzalah has brought vital BLS services to municipalities across the State, and through our legislation they will have the opportunity to work within MICU’s to expand their life-saving capabilities. Through this bill, we have taken a necessary step towards providing comprehensive healthcare improvements and guaranteeing every resident will benefit from expanded paramedic services.”
long overdue
Good legislation. The next step should be to wrestle control of ALS services from the hospitals that use it as a cash cow. NY’s paramedic system has been working for decades with all sorts of participants, volunteers, hospital, municipal, and private all having skin in the game.