Chester First Aid Squad Grapples With Calls From Local Hospital

CHESTER, NJ — Members of the first aid squad discussed the influx of calls from Kessler Rehabilitation Center, which is overworking the volunteer crew, at the annual joint budget meeting last month.

Deb Johnston, President of the Chester First Aid Squad, met with both Mayor Michael Inganamort and Mayor Janet Hoven to discuss the squad's current and future needs, as well as their intention to build a new building in Chester Borough.

As part of the conversation, Johnston detailed the growing call volume that the first aid squad has been facing over the last few years and how the local hospital, Kessler, is overworking their entire volunteer staff.

"You'll see how badly they abuse us," Johnston said when asked about how much Kessler contributes to the increase in calls.

In 2019, the first aid squad took a combined 854 calls between the borough and the township. In 2020, that number dipped down to 764, most likely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in 2021 the number rose back to 898.

Most recently, in 2022, the squad took 1,025 calls, Johnston said.

Each of those calls can take anywhere from two and a half to three hours on average. According to Johnston, the Chester First Aid Squad currently has 50 volunteers on their roster, but only 30 of them are consistently working.

Johnston claims that the vast majority of calls Kessler's team receives are medically necessary, which makes the situation more challenging because they are unable to turn them away.

"To be honest with you, I don't really know how to fix it. The people that are going there are sick. While we can say that a handful of the calls are really not necessary... They are just a difficult group of people to work with," Johnston said.

Kessler Rehabilitation Center, which is located at 201 Pleasant Hill Road, offers physical and occupational therapy services to people suffering from orthopedic injuries and musculoskeletal conditions, sports and work-related injuries, arthritis, and balance disorders.

Members of the township council questioned what could be done to help alleviate the burden on the first aid squad, even suggesting a potential fee system or requiring the hospital to have a separate paid service.

In response, Johnston stated that Chester would not be able to mandate anything like that and that they had previously attempted to create those rules in 1999 but were told that it was not permitted because Kessler pays taxes, which means they are entitled to the same services as any other taxpayer.

The first aid squad said they would look into that option again since it had not been reattempted since 1999.

Washington Township, a neighboring community, recently entered into a legal dispute with Heath Village Retirement Community, a non-profit, full-service retirement facility, after the township passed an ordinance that would have penalized emergency ambulance calls that did not require advanced life support.

Heath Village Retirement Community filed a lawsuit against the township, claiming that the ordinance's restrictions targeted, discriminated against, and penalized a senior retirement community for using local first aid squad services unless "essentially, someone is dying."

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Stuart A. Minkowitz sided with Heath Village, blocking the ordinance and restraining the township from enacting and enforcing anything in the ordinance.