Clinton Township Newsletter

2 3 j a n u a r y 2 0 2 2 h A M p t o n e M e R g e n C y S Q u A D t o M e R g e w i t h S o u t h b R A n C h e M e R g e n C y S e R v i C e S ● The decision means Hampton, Glen Gardner, and Bethlehem Township residents will continue to receive excellent emergency care with faster response times despite a decline in volunteers. ● South Branch was created by the 2020 merger of Clinton First Aid & Rescue Squad and High Bridge Emergency Squad. Hampton Emergency Squad, which provides emergency medical care in Hampton, Glen Gardner and Bethlehem Township, will merge with South Branch Emergency Services on January 1, 2022, leaders from both organizations announced. The resulting organization will operate under the South Branch name and provide coverage to all areas currently served by the two entities. "We're very excited about it," said Hampton Chief Penny Tampier. "The people are going to get better service." Residents served by Hampton are already familiar with South Branch, whose EMTs provide daytime coverage from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. Currently, Hampton volunteers respond to nighttime emergencies from home, heading first to the station and then to the call. After the merger, on-duty squad members will respond directly to emergencies. "Response times should be much quicker," Tampier said. A decline in volunteers – gradual for years, and recently abrupt – led Hampton Emergency Squad leaders to seek the merger, Tampier said. The gradual decline in volunteer numbers and daytime availability is a problem faced by all volunteer- based emergency services, and what led Hampton to seek a daytime coverage partnership nearly two decades ago. Then in 2021, Hampton's volunteer roster dropped sharply. Some volunteers moved or went back to college. "We want to be able to give the same high level of care that we were always able to in the past, the level of care that people expect from us, and this merger allows that to happen." stressed Chief Tampier. Two Mergers in Two Years Creating a Regional Approach: Circumstances similar to those faced by Hampton led to the creation of South Branch Emergency Services in July 2020, when the former High Bridge Emergency Squad and Clinton First Aid & Rescue Squad merged. Hampton considered merging then, too. The Clinton-High Bridge merger took years of work, said South Branch President Sharon Burham, but that effort included a framework to make additional mergers much simpler, allowing this second merger to take place in less than half the time. "We knew that more ambulance companies would likely want to be part of South Branch in the future, and we planned for it," she said. "The Hampton-South Branch merger means increasingly seamless regional service", said South Branch Chief Frank Setnicky. "The merger means we have more people spread out in more places across northern Hunterdon County. We can send one or more crews to wherever they are needed without delay, which is especially important in larger emergencies." The mergers and resulting regional approach also creates further opportunities for strategic use of resources and economy of scale cost savings, noted South Branch Deputy Chief of EMS Bucky Buchanan. Tampier noted that Hampton leadership spoke to the mayors of the towns they cover. "They have always been behind us 100 percent, and they still are going to be behind us 100 percent," she said. "They applauded us for doing this, for taking care of their citizens." Already Friends: Because South Branch (and before it existed, Clinton First Aid) has provided daytime service to Hampton for nearly two decades, people who are served by Hampton are already familiar with South Branch and its EMTs. The volunteers from both organizations and South Branch's paid EMTs also know each other well, Setnicky and Tampier noted. Hampton's Continuing Legacy: Hampton Emergency Squad was incorporated in 1957 and the important role its volunteers have played will not be forgotten. Hampton's squad building will remain in service as South Branch Emergency Services Hampton Station. Its two ambulances and an emergency response unit will also remain in service, albeit with new South Branch decals. Hampton's active volunteer EMTs have already begun training and running calls with existing South Branch members. Hampton's life members – long-serving volunteers who remain part of the organization even if they no longer respond to emergencies – will become South Branch life members. Artifacts from the organization's history will be preserved, just as those from High Bridge and Clinton were. Items from each will be displayed in all four South Branch stations. Interested in becoming a South Branch volunteer? Visit: www.sbes365.org Victor A. Rotolo is a long-time resident of Clinton Township and the founder of Rotolo Karch Law. Call Rotolo Karch Law today: 908.534.7900 to discuss any legal situation confronting you. Your half-hour consultation is free of charge! Their attorneys and staff are ready to serve your legal needs. Rotolo Karch Law • 502 US 22 West, Lebanon, NJ 08833. www.RotoloKarchLaw.com f i g h t i n g b A C k A g A i n S t i L L e g A L R o b o C A L L S Nothing makes me hang up the phone faster than a recorded voice imploring, "Please, do not hang up." It was reported that in 2020 Americans received as estimated 45,866,949,500 robocalls. And last year, about 1.1 billion robocalls were placed in New Jersey alone. Even worse, robocalls cost Americans almost $30 billion dollars over the past year. Not all robocalls are bad; school closings, 9-1-1 notifications, weather alerts and the like all serve legitimate purposes. The majority, however, are designed to get your personal and/or financial information. Some robocalls are threatening, demanding payments—often in the form of gift cards—to avoid severe consequences. Others offer to sell a product or service you probably have little interest in. These calls are insistent and illegal. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), "sales" calls you receive without your express written consent for the call are against the law. If they're illegal, why are robocalls so prevalent? One answer is because often the entities behind these calls are outside of U.S. jurisdiction and, therefore, pay little attention to U.S. laws or do-not-call regulations. Another reason these calls are difficult to stop is because once a scam is revealed, the scammers move on to more sophisticated methods. The surest way to avoid falling victim to a robocall is to simply not answer. Answering tells the scammers they have reached a valid phone number and identifies you as a potential future target. These days it isn't so easy to let the calls go unanswered, though. Software allows scammers to mask their phone numbers and even disguise those numbers to look like the call is local. While the government works with phone service providers to develop and enhance tools to combat robocalls, there are things you can do: • download a call blocker • let unfamiliar calls go to voicemail • hang up • report the call (number, date, time, content) to the FTC Most importantly, do to not engage with these callers. Remember, official agencies with legitimate issues needing your attention will contact you by mail. Here's to a healthy and safe 2022! – Victor Rotolo

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