A sign said it all during a Township Committee meeting on Sept. 8: “Save the Tabernacle Rescue Squad.”
The over two-plus hour meeting became loud at times with many members of the community expressing their passionate pleas to do just that.
In August, the Tabernacle Rescue Squad (TRS) was informed by the township of a 90-day termination agreement. Shamong Township, which the rescue squad also services, issued a similar notice.
“We, like many of our residents, have many questions,” said the squad’s leadership in a statement on Facebook following the termination agreement. “Both townships have chosen to conduct much of the formal planning and discussions related to EMS services behind closed doors, without input from Tabernacle Rescue Squad or any of the Tabernacle Emergency Service Agencies.
“The decisions appear to have been made by committees composed of individuals not active in the emergency services field, which leaves TRS—like many of you—eager for more information and clarity in the coming days.”
At the meeting in September at the Tabernacle Fire Department on Hawkin Road, the public and members of TRS got to hear that information.
Committeewoman Grace McCloskey, who led the township’s Emergency Services Subcommittee, shared information the subcommittee found through their research.
Before the presentation, McCloskey said she will be the first to admit, members of the Tabernacle Rescue Squad (TRS) saved her daughter’s life after a bad car accident nine and a half years ago.
“I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life,” she said. “But nine and half years ago, it was a different TRS.”
McCloskey explained that the subcommittee was put together to learn and understand what was going on post COVID for the all-volunteer squad – the needs in the community, the loss of community fundraisers, higher equipment costs, and the need to focus on paid employment.
Along with Tabernacle, Lumberton, Hampton Lakes and Medford provides residents with basic life support and support each other with mutual aid.
“An agency that has limited staffing and uses mutual aid can be very taxing on our mutual aid partners that have larger call volumes,” McCloskey said.
“We learned we receive services in three different categories – municipal like our fire department, health systems, Virtua, and private such as TRS,” she said.
McCloskey said through the subcommittee they also learned about the importance of response times and learned that the Tabernacle Rescue Squad missed a number of calls because there were not enough emergency personnel to send out a rig.
“Response time is the amount of time from dispatch from central until the time the ambulance leaves the building,” she explained. “So how the system works, a 911 call comes into dispatch and it goes to the closest station that has reported a crew that is available for that time period.”
For TRS, some members left from their homes to the New Road station, which added to response time, McCloskey said, explaining their EMS providers need two certified people to be on an ambulance but are not required in our agreement with TRS to run from the building,
“They don’t all come from the building,” she said. “If they have to drive to the building on New Road and come to your residence that increases response time and can impact patient outcome.”
McCloskey noted the New Road building is paid “with our taxes” and is capable of housing six rescue trucks and off-road capable vehicles and a boat. Also, personnel can stay overnight, has a fully functional kitchen and showering quarters among other amenities and rooms for use for other emergency service providers.
The Tabernacle Rescue Squad station consists of a 12,800 square foot building that was completed in 2012. The station was a joint project with the Township of Tabernacle and also has space for the Tabernacle Office of Emergency Management, and Pinelands Regional CERT Team, according to the squad’s website.
In April 2022 to December 31, 2024, TRS went into an agreement with Lumberton Emergency Services (LES) to reduce daytime workload on TRS volunteers and improve night and weekend staff availability.
“You make a call during the day, which is a higher volume time between April 2022 and December 2024, you were assisted by LES because still in 2024, there was a continued concern that currently our providers were missing approximately 300 of 800 something calls on nights and weekends,” McCloskey shared. “This was not because they were on other calls.”
With applause, Tabernacle Rescue Squad Chief George Jackson III took to the podium and admitted that the squad had a paid time response issue.
“We worked on that and originally entered an agreement with Lumberton EMS to provide coverage for the town,” he said, noting they saw the issue.
“Changing in volunteers, changing to all work shift work and different positions in our lives created that issue.”
The original plan, he said, was to do a merger.
“We tried to do a large region merger, sort of what they are trying to do now,” Jackson said. “Every squad will bring itself to the table be it personnel, be it equipment, be it money, be it whatever.”
From 2022 to 2024, Jackson said they struggled as a volunteer agency.
“Yes, we missed calls at night, I’m not here to deny that, but we were working towards a merger with Lumberton,” he said.
Towards the latter of 2024, they were in discussion with Hampton Lakes Emergency Squad in Southampton, who he said were “more than willing to work” with them and wanted to do a regional service in the Pinelands. Members had been presenting the idea in the towns.
“It’s not the agencies that didn’t want to do it, we were stopped by the towns,” he said.
McCloskey said they are currently in discussions to have a shared service to have two fully equipped ambulances at 134 New Road, two qualified EMTs stationed 24/7 and all shifts will be staffed with in house EMTs.
There will be additional added EMT staffed during high volume periods dedicated for township events and football games.
“We realize change is scary,” McCloskey said, whose comments received jeers from the crowd. “I also realize that no matter who we go with … it’s not going to top TRS leadership.”
The Tabernacle Township Committee has a scheduled special meeting on Sept. 15 to meet in executive session with Tabernacle Rescue Squad representatives to discuss the current state of the contract with the squad.
The squad’s contract is scheduled to be up in November.
