Prior to reading this opinion of mine and solely mine, let it be known, I am a volunteer with the Barnegat First Aid Squad, INC. and have no other agenda other than venting my frustrations with the township that I reside.
In recent months the volunteers of the Barnegat First Aid Squad have been limited in their response hours, now the town committee is putting more restrictions on them again. It seems that when the volunteers "one up" them, they retaliate with another restriction.

The volunteers have had enough and should begin to take this fight to the residents of the town. When hurtful and untrue statements are made against a group as many times as has been the case with the first aiders, it begins to become personal, although the committee has stated that their decisions are for the "good" of the town. Recent newspaper articles suggest that the township will now try to stop the volunteers from assisting its neighboring towns with mutual aid, their contentions are that the volunteers should focus on Barnegat only. This couldn't be farther from the truth, the volunteers of the Barnegat First Aid Squad are not permitted to answer 911 calls within township limits during 6am until 6pm from Monday thru Friday, so what are they focusing on. The reason the town committee does not want the volunteers answering first aid calls in other towns is because they are capable of getting volunteers together to answer the call for neighboring towns, which shows that the committee lies when they state that there are no volunteers around during the daytime hours to answer calls for Barnegat. So instead of allowing the mutual aid process to work as it has for the past half century, they (the committee) will squash that as well.

First, hours were taken from the volunteers, which was a slap to the volunteers. Ironically, this was soon after articles appeared that ambulances were not being maintained and not ready for use. With no understanding of EMS the committee made its decision, mis-quoting response times. Most other towns have communicated with its volunteers to work out a plan using a paid service to act as a back-up service, not Barnegat. The volunteers accepted the challenge and began stationing members at their building. Next, the committee declared that the volunteers were unable to work with others and unable to sit down and discuss any matters. The volunteers are here to give their time, what agenda do they have, it is definitely not political. Then, Quality Medical Transports' contract was extended for another year. Again the committee states that within the contract it is not time specific so that the volunteers can take back time when they are ready. Do you think that is the reason or do you think it is so that the volunteers can be crushed further into the dirt, closer to extinction. The volunteers can take back time, but the statement from Quality Medical Transport was that it is not financially feasible for the company to work any less than twelve hours in Barnegat. This brings us back to a town meeting when the statement was said, "Volunteers work to fill their hearts, whereas paid employees work to fill their pockets." This statement caused a lot of controversy amongst the EMS personnel, why? Because it's true. Jumping forward, the town committee decided that they are now realtors, in the sense that they began looking for office space for the private ambulance service Quality Medical Transport. Quality lost its' lease at its office space on route 9, then moved its ambulances to the Elizabeth V. Edwards School parking lot, after that its home was the back parking lot at town hall. The weather began to get hot and the employees had no air condition to rest in, so the committee gave the private company the volunteers sub-station. This building owned by the town was built by Hovnanian, donated for the use by the volunteer first aid squad; the land was donated by the township. Backing up to one week prior to Quality Medical Transport being given a contract with the town, a co sponsor of the failed Barnegat West EMS first aid squad and friend of Committeeman Al Cirulli, Charlie Giles began working for Quality, just a thought. Now, the volunteers vacated their building and had two buildings worth of items to store in one. So, they began to consolidate, would you guess that the town committee attacked the squad for this, too.

If the township committee spent as much time supporting its volunteers rather than degrading them, there might be double the amount of volunteerism in town. The Volunteer First Aiders give up thousands of hours at different community events each year, never to be acknowledged. They are the outsiders, that the committee wishes would just move to another town, no longer to be a thorn in their side. Knowing the volunteers and their dedication this will never happen, they have stood up and fought for the residents and for the well being of all those who drive through or stop to visit. Now is the time for the residents to stand firm and support the volunteers, voice your opinion at town meetings and write letters to your congressmen and senators about your dismay. The volunteers will never give up, so don't give up on them.

The Volunteers are stationed at their first aid building on Birdsall Street in Downtown Barnegat every evening from 6pm until 10pm, and all day on Saturdays and Sundays. If you are in the neighborhood stop by and say hi, form your own opinions about the people who give up their time to help you in your time of need. Remember for over 55 years, the people making up this organization have jumped up and ran to your time of need no matter what they were in the middle of, some of them have put down their forks at dinner to answer the call, others have left groceries in their carts at the local stores, but all have the same reason, because they care about somebody they don't know. Simply said its OUR COMMUNITY, OUR NEIGHBORHOOD; LET'S TAKE IT BACK!

Respectfully,
Rob Liccione