2 April, 1986 (~estimated)

Bring Back Lifemobile; Area Mayors Unanimous

Myrna K. Bearse

The mayors of Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, and Montgomery Township have joined together to urge that the lifemobile serving their communities be returned to Princeton. The unit, one of three lifemobiles serving Mercer County and adjoining areas, moved two weeks ago from the Valley Road Building on Witherspoon Street across Route 1 to the Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Company building on Clarksville Road in West Windsor.

Prior to its move to Valley Road, the lifemobile was stationed at Princeton Medical Center. It left there after about a week because, according to a member of the crew, its personnel was not allotted a sufficient amount of space at the hospital. 

The letter from Borough Mayor Barbara Sigmund, Township Mayor Winthrop Pike, and Montgomery Mayor Donald Matthews [see Mailbox, page 14] followed by a week a fatal accident in Montgomery Township that took the life of one woman and severely injured another. It took more than 20 minutes for a lifemobile to arrive at the scene, according to the mayors’ letter, “and two other critical incidents on that same day further dramatized the need for a Lifemobile located west of Route One in our areas.” 

The mayors’ request was addressed to Dr. Barry Ultan, director of the countywide Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) program based at Helene Fuld Hospital in Trenton, and Dennis Doody, president of The Medical Center at Princeton. It asks that the lifemobile be re-established at Princeton Medical Center.

The MICU program at Helene Fuld dispatches lifemobiles from three locations within Mercer County to serve the county and adjoining areas, including Montgomery. Princeton was originally selected as one of the three sites, and its territory was to include the Borough, Township, West Windsor, Plainsboro, the southern half of Montgomery Township, and Hopewell. 

Mark Freda, Borough Council member and former president of the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad, has also written to Mr. Doody and Dr. Ultan. He says in his letter to the Medical Center that a West Windsor location for the lifemobile will cause longer response times for Princeton and outlying areas. “We both realize the potential serious problems that could result from this situation,” he wrote. 

The matter has been placed on the agenda for the Borough Council meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 3. 

 -Myrna K. Bearse