Emergency services get help from ICU
Robert Wood Johnson mobile unit to accompany first aid crews
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

MONROE - Residents of the township and surrounding towns such as Jamesburg and Helmetta are being provided greater medical support in emergency situations.

A new mobile intensive care unit (MICU) provided by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, will operate out of Monroe and work along with the township's existing municipal ambulance service (MAS) in responding to emergency calls.

"By establishing the satellite right here with our system, it should be tremendous in regard to response time," Mayor Richard Pucci said.

The MICU will travel to patients' homes along with the municipal first aid crews. When the patient is brought into the ambulance, a licensed paramedic from the MICU comes on board and communicates with doctors to determine what treatment is needed on the way to the hospital.

The certified emergency medical technicians in Monroe's own ambulance service are able to provide basic life support services, such as stopping bleeding, splinting fractures, and keeping a patient breathing. But for medical support beyond that, the patient had to get to the hospital, the nearest one being 14 miles from Monroe.

Now, the MICU's paramedics will be able to administer necessary drugs, start intravenous lines and perform other crucial elements of treatment to patients in need of intensive care, as they are licensed by the state to do so.

"Paramedic intervention between us and the hospital sometimes preserves the quality of life for the patient," said MAS Director Judy Olbrys.

In 2005, the township fielded more than four times the number of emergency calls they had in 1991, according to an MAS report. People over 50 years of age comprises almost 65 percent of the calls.

As part of a five-year contract, the township will provide for storage of the vehicle, as well as quarters for the staff, at the MAS building.

The unit will be staffed with two paramedics at all times.

Robert Wood Johnson representatives would not divulge the cost of the unit.

The MICU will also serve residents of Plainsboro, Cranbury, Jamesburg, South Brunswick and Helmetta, according to the hospital's emergency medical services director, Lou Sasso. He said it may travel as far as North Brunswick and Spotswood, if necessary.

"Not just Monroe, but the whole area has been growing over the past several years," Sasso said.

But Monroe was in need of an MICU, according to Olbrys, who started the township's volunteer first aid squad in 1970. She said Pucci has wanted to acquire the unit for a long time.

"Mayor Pucci is an extremely caring individual," Olbrys said. "He has such a progressive outlook on medical care for residents. He has been unbelievable toward us with this."

The Township Council was expected to approve the five-year deal last night, and the service will start up within the next week.