Contract proposals due to Kearny by March 17 for new EMS/ambulance service

By Ron Leir ronleir423@gmail.com

With time running out on Kearny’s interim ambulance service, the town is getting ready to either re-up with the current provider or switch to an alternate EMS operator. Contract offers are due St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

RWJBarnabas Health is engaged on a 90-day basis to respond to local medical emergencies, at no cost to the town, after the departure of Kearny EMS, run by Harry McNeill, on Dec. 31, 2022.

A Request for Proposal put out by the town calls for EMS vendors to “provide basic life support and emergency ambulance transport services for a period of between one and up to five years, beginning April 1, 2023.”

The town will award a contract “based on technical and cost proposals/responses which are most advantageous to the municipality.”

As was the case with Kearny EMS, the new EMS provider will be quartered on the first floor of the townowned office/garage building at 352 Maple St. at no cost but “shall own, operate, maintain, insure and fuel all ambulance(s) assigned to work in Kearny…at its sole expense.”

Also, the EMS provider “shall own and operate its own radio system” to allow staff to talk directly with the town’s police and fire telecommunicators and report to all emergency medical calls within 9 minutes or less and respond “to all working fires and remain on scene, until released, to treat and/ or transport any/all emergency first responders or fire victims as necessary.”

The provider will be expected to honor the town’s existing mutual aid agreements with Harrison, East Newark, Belleville, North Arlington and Lyndhurst and “any request for mutual aid shall not unreasonably be denied.”

It must have a management plan for the supervision of all EMTs and other staff assigned to work in Kearny.

The service must “provide at least one ambulance to cover all major community events and mass gatherings” such as July 4 fireworks display, National Night Out, school graduations, occasional sports games, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Town Hall holiday tree lighting. No EMS transports are permitted for “routine non-emergency medical calls between and/or among hospitals, doctors’ offices, medical facilities or medical office buildings.”

The service will be expected to bill Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance firms and shall seek charity care funding for the uninsured if

See EMS, Page 19

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