the staff of the Ridewood blog
Members of the New Jersey EMS Task Force were throughout the state Saturday to support local, state and national partners in the fight against COVID-19.
New Jersey EMS Task Force teams served in logistics positions Saturday at MetLife Stadium where the second wave of a FEMA deployment of 100 additional ambulances and 450 EMTs and Paramedics began arriving. New Jersey EMS Task Force members spent the day working side-by-side with members of the NJ Department of Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services, FEMA, American Medical Response and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
The additional FEMA deployed ambulance units will continue arriving throughout the weekend. They will join the first wave of 75 ambulances and 200 EMT’s and Paramedics who have been working in New Jersey since April 10 to handle increased 911 responses due to the pandemic. Today’s arriving ambulances came from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
“We have been activated for just over one month and this team continues to perform at a high level,” said Mike Bascom, Team Leader of the New Jersey EMS Task Force. “Our members have worked around-the-clock as part of the state’s response to the pandemic. They have willingly sacrificed time from their loved ones to do whatever they can to assure the people of the state are getting the best care possible.”
While some team members staffed the MetLife location, others were at the PNC Bank Arts Center helping with administrative and logistics functions at the mobile COVID-19 testing site. Additional members will be on hand Sunday at the mobile testing site at the Bergen Community College. New Jersey EMS Task Force members have been deployed to the testing sites since they opened in March.
In addition to those in the field, NJEMSTF team members continue to work remotely each day to plan for future missions; coordinating logistics deployments; ensuring communications; distributing updates on social media; planning fundraising outreach; and communicating with stakeholders.
The NJEMSTF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that represents more than 200 career and volunteer EMS providers throughout the state, who are trained to respond to large-scale man-made and natural disasters as well as pre-planned events.
