File Photo
South Orange Rescue Squad Capt. Dan Cohen practices his skills on volunteer patients at a drill. The SORS, an all-volunteer group that provides emergency medical services to South Orange and surrounding municipalities, is currently in the process of moving its headquarters.
By Shanee Frazier, Staff Writer
SOUTH ORANGE — With plans for its new headquarters under way, the South Orange Rescue Squad is imploring the local community to aid in the squad’s fundraising efforts. The SORS was forced to move when its 43-year home at 4 Third St. was demolished as part of the Third and Valley redevelopment project and the squad is looking to raise funds to construct a new facility next to the firehouse on Sloan Street.
In a recent email to the News-Record, Squad Capt. Dan Cohen said fundraising is necessary in order for the squad to responsibly finance the construction project.
“We are about to embark on the rebuilding of our headquarters and therefore also embark on a major fundraising campaign to help pay for it all,” Cohen said. “It is estimated that we need to raise about $100,000 in order to complete the project and not deplete our savings or operating budget.”
Along with fundraising events that SORS will host throughout the year, the squad is currently asking residents and businesses to sponsor different aspects of the construction project.
Larger donors can sponsor entire rooms, pieces of equipment and even ambulances. Residents or businesses interested in making smaller donations can sponsor bricks that will become part of the walkways to the building and tiles that will line the front entrance.
Cohen said that the bricks and tiles will be laser engraved with text and logos specified by the donors and will become a permanent part of the building and its exterior.
“We are hoping to close on the lot next week, if all of the paperwork gets done in time,” Cohen said. “There are then a bunch of things that need to happen before the construction can begin, such as tree removal, PSE&G needs to move a telephone pole, etc., but we are really hoping to be able to start within a few weeks before winter sets in and the project gets delayed by weather.”
The SORS, an all-volunteer agency, had been headquartered on Third Street since 1969, although it has been in operation since 1952. A few months ago, the village sold the land on which the SORS’ previous building sat to Jonathan Rose LLC for the Third and Valley redevelopment project, which is currently under construction.
Jonathan Rose LLC, the developer of the Third and Valley redevelopment project, has contributed roughly $1 million to the SORS project.
According to Cohen, now that the plans are approximately 95-percent complete, it looks as though the final total cost of rebuilding will be roughly $1.25 million. These estimates only include the actual construction and “soft costs” associated with it — they do not include furniture, communications equipment and wiring, diesel exhaust removal systems, an emergency generator, etc.
According to Cohen, South Orange is not contributing any money to this project. No taxpayer funds are being used, and SORS relies on donations from the community for its operating budget, not taxpayer money, so it is now reaching out to the community for additional assistance.
Cohen said the squad has moved to a temporary location on Fourth Street, a rented one-bedroom apartment and garage it shares with a construction company. Cohen stressed, however, that this is not an ideal situation, and the SORS is eager to build its new permanent location.
“In the meantime, all of our members have been doing a great job of making it work and not letting it interfere with emergency response and the service we provide to the community,” Cohen said.
Moving locations is just another change; SORS underwent other changes to improve services approximately 15 years ago. The squad changed its operations, becoming a live-in squad, in order to greatly improve response times, Cohen said. Volunteers sleep at the headquarters every night and work 12- to 24-hour shifts.
“This enables us to be on the road in response to a 9-1-1 call in one to two minutes, rather than having to wait for members to respond from home in their personal vehicles first to the rescue squad and then in an ambulance to the scene of an emergency,” Cohen said. “When we made this transition a decade ago, it cut approximately five minutes from our average response time.”
Cohen also said that increasing the number of ambulances the SORS uses has greatly increased its ability to respond to multiple emergencies at once and to handle major incidents.
“For example, at every working fire, two ambulances are dispatched to the fire scene and a third crew covers the rest of the town. This has drastically reduced our need to rely on mutual aid ambulances from the surrounding towns to back us up when there are multiple emergencies at once,” he said.
“Although we do not often call on mutual aid, we are called upon ourselves to respond to other towns,” Cohen added. “We are the primary backup for the Maplewood Fire Department and it is not uncommon for us to have one or two ambulances on calls in South Orange and an additional one in Maplewood.”
Cohen said that, due to spacing issues in the temporary location, one ambulance currently has to be housed outside, which is bad for many reasons. Many items inside the ambulances — such as glucose, epinephrine, sterile water and defibrillators — that cannot be exposed to extreme temperature changes.
“When a call comes in, the crew must get the ambulance on the road and respond immediately. There is no time to clear off ice and snow, defrost the windows, dig it out and hope that it starts,” Cohen said. “As you can imagine, it is not good to place a patient inside a 120-degree or 10-degree ambulance and, when responding to a call, there is no time to let the air conditioning or heat do much of anything.”
In addition to the concerns about weather conditions, a number of items on the ambulances require a constant charge to guarantee optimal and prolonged use. These include suction units for clearing a patient’s airway, radios and flashlights.
To make a donation to the SORS fundraising efforts, visit https://crowdera.co/project/south-orange-rescue-squad-new-headquarters-building-project.
To sponsor bricks and tiles, visit www.polarengraving.com/SORescueSquad.