Town Topics
16 April 1980

First Aid and Rescue Squad Increases Staff as It Hires Two Professionals 

The Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad has announced the selection of two paid professionals to provide daytime coverage during the week. Funds amounting to $3,200 were appropriated by the Borough and the Township in “response to a recommendation from the Joint Committee appointed last year to help the Squad work out a number of problems.

The two are Dirman (Joe) Derman of Spruce Street, a paramedic with some eight years of experience on the Squad, and Tom Krisanda, a Pennington resident and member of its Squad. The two have given notice to their respective employers – Educational Testing Service and Trenton State Hospital – and will begin their duties May 5.

There were some 30 inquiries about the jobs. Squad Captain Ed Obert reports, leading to 18 completed applications, which in turn were narrowed to seven finalists. “Any one of these would have been superb choices.” Mr. Obert said happily. “There are lots of people willing to be paid for the many hours of training they have taken.”

For a paramedic this amounts to 600 hours or more. The training period for an emergency medical technician (EMT) is now six months to one year and entails over 100 hours of instruction. The request to the governing bodies specified the need for a paramedic and an EMT, but the two men are both paramedics.

Mr. Derman has taken “a significant cut in pay” to accept the paramedic position. Mr. Obert says, and will continue to fill his regular volunteer night shift and probably remain as Squad president. Mr. Krisanda. who is described as being “very, very knowledgeable – we’re lucky to have him.” will take the EMT role. He may leave if he is accepted by medical school, but Mr. Obert thinks even six months of his servcies will be valuable and that the interviewing process has shown there are others highly qualified waiting in the wings.

Mr. Krisanda will also become a volunteer and undergo orientation in the Squad’s methods and procedures. He, too, will take a regular night shift but will be assigned a different shift than Mr. Derman to spread out their expertise.

The Rescue Squad has recently taken possession before putting it on display to the public. The only remaining items on the 10-point agenda of problems that have been addressed by the Joint Committee are the ability to purchase gasoline at cost at a municipal pump and the establishment of a Joint Public Safety Committee which would include representatives of the police and fire departments, the University and perhaps the Recreation Department in addition to the Squad members, Medical Center representatives and Committee and Council members and Borough and Township appointed delegates.

Mr. Obert also wants the public to know that there is now a single telephone number for summoning the Squad: it is 921-2100, the number of the Township Police Department.