To the Editor:

The Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad (PFARS) is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code. PFARS is run by volunteers and is comprised of nearly 70 volunteer members and seven paid staff that provide emergency medical and technical rescue services to the Princeton community.

For most of our 75 years we provided a free service. However, decreasing contributions from the community since 2002 and rising costs left PFARS unable to fully fund operations and capital expenses. To ensure that the quality of care provided was not compromised, PFARS had no choice but to start billing patients’ insurance companies for services rendered. In many cases there is not an out of pocket expense to our patients.

Insurance reimbursements are the primary, but not sole, source of dollars that allow us to provide emergency medical services to our community every day of the year. Although PFARS receives no funding from the municipal government, we do rely on the generous contributions from our community to help deliver professional, courteous, and skilled emergency medical and technical rescue service. As is the case with everyone, we are faced with increased expenses to maintain our services. For example, we have seen increases in costs for training, equipment and vehicle maintenance, insurance to cover our building/equipment/etc., emergency medical supplies, vehicle replacement and all the other items it takes to run a service of our size. Despite these financial strains, PFARS makes every effort to control our budget and keep the insurance billing rate at a level that helps us meet our yearly costs, and our charge is in line with other emergency medical services agencies in our area.

One should also note that the distance traveled to get a patient to the hospital is only a very small factor in what it costs to train, certify, and equip our EMTs; as well as maintain and operate the four ambulances, rescue truck, utility vehicle and boat, and other vehicles which respond to the approximately 2,800 requests for help PFARS receives each year. While the mileage traveled may be short, a single 911 call may take anywhere from an hour to two hours or more of total time. And with an average of eight calls per day we try to have two crews on duty for most of each day to be able to respond to the many calls that overlap each other most days.

PFARS is not unlike most hospitals in our area that are non-profit, yet charge for their services. Non-profit does not equate to free services, but pertains rather to the fact that the people running the organization do not profit from its services and that the organization’s purpose is not to accumulate wealth. While we strive to maintain excellent equipment and training levels we are prudent with the money we bring in, as can be seen from our publicly available IRS Form 990.

The dedicated members of PFARS are proud to provide our community with emergency medical and technical rescue services. We welcome questions and are eager to help our community better understand the funding and operations that enable PFARS to provide this vital service to the community.

Mark Freda

President, Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad