The Moorestown First Aid and Emergency Squad aims to provide the very best in emergency care and transport, and its goal is to deliver an enhanced level of service with prompt and exceptional patient care.
The unit serves township residents, local businesses, six skilled nursing facilities and other medical facilities and industrial buildings. It provides mutual aid when called on.
“We have a dedicated group of individuals who are here, everybody from the board members down through the ranks of EMT,” said the team’s Dan Sheilds, its chief and director.
“They come together as a team for the purpose of helping and saving the people within this community.”
According to its website, the nonprofit is composed of medical professionals who provide both skilled and compassionate care. It began in 1942 and now has three, 12-hour shifts every day and four ambulances to answer more than 4,000 calls a year.
The squad’s board has five local members, including Bill Holden.
“Unfortunately, when we show up at (someone’s) house on the worst days of their life, they don’t know what’s going on,” he noted. “With 4,000 calls a year we’re touching a lot of people hopefully in a good way.”
The Moorestown First Aid and Emergency Squad has also changed its model to train prospective members from an EMT class at Rowan College at Burlington County.
“We let them ride along while they’re in school, and they’re considered volunteers because they’re still training and learning,” He explained. “But it’s a good system and it’s working well for us.”
Between 2021 and 2022, the unit saw an increase of 1,000 calls a year that never decreased during COVID. But it wasn’t easy.
“There were a lot of changes to the system, there were a lot of changes to the workforce, and there was a reduction in EMTs being trained,” Sheilds recalled of that time.
In a Facebook post, the squad thanked its EMTs, board of directors and support staff for making the nonprofit strong.
“Everybody in this squad, from the top down, works as a team,” Sheilds related. “We do a lot of good stuff here for the community.”
For more information or to donate to the Moorestown First Aid and Emergency Squad, visit https://moorestownems.org.
