First aid squad sees response to urgent call for volunteers
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - A difficult situation is starting to look up for the Freehold First Aid and Emergency Squad.

The first aid squad, which has been struggling to keep its head above water financially and facing a decline in membership, may be back on track, according to longtime member Bill Madden.

Late last year, Madden told the Borough Council that the squad had to make a deal with professional MONOC paramedics to cover the shifts from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. The response by MONOC would require a payment, unlike the free service that had always been provided by the first aid squad.

First aid squad members continued to answer emergency calls between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m. weekdays and all day on weekends, and that service remained free.

At that time Madden made a plea for more residents to volunteer for the first aid squad and said the situation would be re-evaluated in early 2007.

He attended a council meeting on Feb. 5 to update the governing body on a series of first-aid issues.

Madden said the first aid squad has 10 new members who are in the process of training for their emergency medical technician (EMT) certification.

He said the situation has improved to the point where the squad now has enough members to cover certain hours on certain days of the week.

The latest figures for membership, according to Madden, are that volunteers are now able to service emergency calls for certain hours, which right now will vary from day to day until all of the new members are fully trained.

Madden said he is hoping the Freehold first aid squad will soon be able to resume its traditional seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day coverage. That is what he is striving for and that is what volunteers have provided to the residents of Freehold Borough and Freehold Township for more than 60 years.

"The word is out and people are responding," Madden said.

According to information provided by Madden, the first aid squad answered 3,061 calls in 2006: 1,114 in Freehold Borough and 1,889 in Freehold Township. The other calls were responses outside the squad's primary service area.