EMS Delay To Infant's Cardiac Arrest Sparks Dispute In Mercer Town

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — Hamilton Township Professional Firefighters, FMBA Local 284, is publicly pressing Capital Health to address what it calls a pattern of delayed emergency response times, pointing to a May 31 call involving an infant in cardiac arrest.

In a statement on Facebook, the union said it has raised the concerns privately with Capital Health "for some time" and is now asking the health system to address them in public.

According to the union, Hamilton firefighters, an RWJBarnabas Health BLS unit and Capital Health paramedics were dispatched to a call involving an infant who was not breathing and had no pulse. Citing records obtained through an Open Public Records Act request, the union said it took Capital Health paramedics 3 minutes and 52 seconds to leave their station after being dispatched — even though the unit radioed dispatch that it was responding roughly two minutes after the call went out.

"These are not allegations or estimates; they are the official times reflected in the records," the union said.

The figures are at the center of a dispute over how response time should be measured. In an email exchange, a Capital Health attorney said the ALS crew was dispatched at 9:27:13 a.m., was marked en route at 9:29:12 a.m. and arrived on scene at 9:34:35 a.m., and said there was "no indication of any delay" on the part of the responding team. FMBA Local 284 President Shane Mull disputed that characterization, citing AVL (automatic vehicle location) data showing the ambulance did not actually leave its parked position until 9:31:05 a.m. — nearly two minutes after it had radioed that it was responding.

"The critical factor in evaluating actual turnout and response performance is not when a unit announces it is responding, but when the vehicle begins moving," Mull wrote.

The union said the incident is not isolated, pointing to a separate call in which a Hamilton Fire captain suffered a career-ending injury at a house fire, while the paramedic response was also delayed. The union said it met with Capital Health after that incident and was assured that greater oversight and accountability measures would follow — but that the May 31 call suggests those changes haven't taken hold.

"We are now bringing this issue to the public's attention so that elected officials and Mercer County residents can ask Capital Health the same questions we have been asking privately," the union said.

The union cited National Fire Protection Association guidance calling for a turnout time of about 60 seconds for staffed emergency units.

"We believe these response times represent a significant risk to the residents, visitors, and businesses of Mercer County," the statement said. The union said it hopes Capital Health will review its operational standards "to ensure that critically ill and injured patients receive the timely emergency medical response they deserve."

In a statement to Patch, Capital Health said it takes response times seriously and disputed any suggestion of a pattern of delays.

"As a non-profit hospital, Capital Health has provided Advanced Life Support services to Mercer County residents for nearly 50 years and we, and our providers, take this responsibility and our response times seriously," the statement said. While the health system said it could not discuss specifics about individual patients due to privacy laws, it said its average en route time in Hamilton Township so far this year is "well below 90 seconds from dispatch," based on its available data.

Capital Health said it is "aware of no adverse patient outcomes due to the response times of our units," and added that it will continue working with the union "to address concerns they have raised regarding a specific call" while remaining "committed to ensuring that our teams provide timely, quality care."

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