EMS Details

The Fair Haven First Aid Squad is a sub-organization of the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Company No. 1. We are an all volunteer organization that consists of approximately 40 active and active-exempt members from our community. Our mission is to provide quality emergency care and transportation for the residents of Fair Haven, 24 hours-a-day, throughout the entire year, and to offer mutual aid assistance for our neighboring communities when summoned. Prior to joining the first aid squad, it is required that candidates be a member of the fire company, either as a firefighter, auxiliary, social or honorary member. All active members of the squad must hold either a valid New Jersey Department of Health Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or First Responder card, along with a valid CPR card. For more information about becoming an active member of the first aid squad, please click on our How to Join link.

This page is intended to provide information for visitors to our website who are interested in delving deeper into the operations of the First Aid Squad. Whether you are prospective members or visitors from another EMS unit, we hope the information will be helpful.

In 2013, the Fair Haven First Aid Squad responded to approximately 512 calls, of which approximated 100 were mutual aid assists for our surrounding communities.  We are right on target compared to previous years’ response amounts, which usually average around 500 calls. Our volunteers put in a total of approximately 1,800 hours during the past year.

Each month, the squad conducts its business meeting and 1 or 2 training exercises. The State of New Jersey has specific training guidelines, depending on the level of certification. The Fair Haven First Aid Squad consists of First Responder and/or EMT certified personnel. All of our active members are defibrillator certified. The required training consists of either a re-certification course or approved New Jersey Department of Health continuing education courses totaling 48 credit hours every three years. CPR re-certification is an annual requirement and lectures / demonstrations are given “in-house” every month. The Fair Haven First Aid Squad is always trying to improve the quality of patient care by learning and training with new methods and technologies.

Medic 206

Medic 206
Medic 206

The Fair Haven First Aid Squad is one important element that makes up the area’s EMS system. Two fairly new parts of the EMS system are Paramedics and MedEvac helicopters. MONOC, a cooperative non-profit organization made up of several New Jersey hospitals, is the provider of the Advanced Life Support (ALS) branch of the EMS system. The local first aid squads can only provide Basic Life Support (BLS) for a patient, which includes bandaging, splinting, CPR and oxygen therapy. There are some cases where the patient requires a higher level of care, such as intra-venous (IV) drug administration, cardiac defibrillation, endotracheal intubation and other various techniques. For these cases, the 9-1-1 operator or first aid squad will have a paramedic unit dispatched to assist. A paramedic unit can be compared to a hospital emergency room on wheels that comes right to your front door. The Fair Haven First Aid Squad primarily uses MONOC Medic Unit #206 (County #59-206), which operates out of the Middletown/Red Bank, NJ area.

Most of our patients are transported to Riverview Medical Center, located in neighboring Red Bank, or to Monmouth Medical Center, in Long Branch. As mentioned earlier, the Fair Haven First Aid Squad does not charge a fee for our ambulance service, however, a patient treated by a paramedic might be charged a fee depending on the type of treatment rendered. If a fee were to be imposed, MONOC would bill the patient’s insurance company for that amount, similar to a hospital bill. The patient should be aware that they have the right to refuse any type of treatment or procedure, however, to risk life or limb over cost savings is never advisable.

NorthSTAR
NorthSTAR

Patients involved in severe traumatic situations need to be transported to a State recognized Trauma Center. Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune, NJ is Fair Haven’s closest center, however, it takes about 20-30 minutes to get there by ground. Because only seconds count in trauma cases, it is sometimes necessary that patients be transported by helicopter, which would only take 8-10 minutes by air. The NorthStar MedEvac program is a cooperative effort between the NJ State Police and UMDNJ’s University Hospital, Newark, NJ. Upon request from our squad or the paramedic unit, NorthStar will come directly to the scene and can transport up to two victims to the closest trauma center. If NorthStar is on another mission, its sister ship from southern New Jersey, SouthStar MedEvac can fly up to our area.

MONOC has a helicopter known as “MONOC 1” and started MedEvac operations in 2006.  MONOC 1 will also perform on-scene responses, if needed