HILLSDALE—Borough officials said they are advertising for paid daytime emergency medical technicians on the borough website and social media and hope to have the paid EMTs in place by early August.
“As of last week, the Hillsdale Volunteer Ambulance Service has seen 15 résumés and scheduled six interviews. Based upon any of those, and any additional applicants and interviews, the HVAS will make recommendations to the borough for further consideration,” Council President Anthony DeRosa, council liaison to the Volunteer Ambulance Service Committee, told Pascack Press July 4.
“Ads and job postings for the paid EMTs have gone out over the last several days,” DeRosa said at the June 13 council meeting, The position offers variable wage rates based on experience: $26 hourly for 1–2 years experience; $27 for 2-5 years; and $28 for 5-plus years.
The ad lists 10 qualifications and certifications required of EMT applicants.
Mayor John Ruocco asked if implementation plans for a paid daytime service might be delayed should not enough EMTs apply.
However, borough administrator Michael Ghassali said that was not a problem, as the response was “very positive” because pay was “on the top scale.”
Said Ghassali, “We were called by towns to not steal their EMTs.” Ruocco replied, “Okay, so that kind of alleviates a lot of concern I had.”
The ad for EMTs notes it offers competitive salaries for per-diem positions to provide Monday–Friday daytime coverage for the residents of Hillsdale.
DeRosa said the VAS hopes to hire six to eight EMTs for daytime shifts.
In April, Pascack Press reported that due to longer response times as a result of fewer volunteers, the Volunteer Ambulance Service will be starting a paid per-diem ambulance service to be staffed by up to eight emergency medical technicians (EMTs) at an initial cost of $110,000 to commence in August.
DeRosa said at the April 4 council meeting that the paid service was needed to provide timely assistance to residents calling with a medical emergency.
“The number-one responsibility of any government — local or national — is the safety of its people. Hillsdale has taken this bold step to help ensure that there will be an ambulance available and able to respond as quickly as possible when our residents need one,” said DeRosa then of the new paid ambulance service.
He said the hope is that the paid ambulance service will become self-sustaining through insurance reimbursements. “But we couldn’t wait any longer and felt the need to jump-start the program as soon as possible with the appropriation of funds now.”
He said the volunteer ambulance service took the initiative several years ago to work with the council to address a chronic shortage of ambulance volunteers, especially during daytime shifts.
In April, Volunteer Ambulance Service president John Beatty, a former VAS captain and EMT for nearly 15 years, told Pascack Press that he was “thankful that we are able to work with Hillsdale to make this a reality and continue to provide great service to our residents.”
Beatty said then there were 20 active volunteers, donating 12–24 hours each per week or more.
“Volunteerism has been a struggle,” he said, also noting that high school- and college-age individuals frequently join but, due to school demands, cannot sustain a volunteer commitment.
Both DeRosa and Beatty noted the lack of ambulance volunteers has been a pressing problem throughout Pascack Valley towns in recent years, especially since the pandemic.
Three nearby towns who share ambulance service with Tri-Boro Volunteer Ambulance Corps — Montvale, Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake — recently hired a consultant to evaluate options and devise a long-term strategy to best provide timely, round-the-clock ambulance response.
Beatty said in April that the volunteer squad approached local officials a year before to begin to address “dire” staffing levels and to create a back-up plan to provide timely emergency response.