Medevac critics' statements untrue

JACK ELLIOTT

In his Speaking Out piece in the Courier News (Dec. 15) Steve Ginsberg, writing in opposition to the State Police medevac unit, says that fixed wing aircraft are the only type specifically allowed at Somerset Airport. That is absolutely untrue. When Somerset Airport was licensed by the state in 1946, helicopters were specifically mentioned as aircraft authorized to use the facility.

He writes further, "To my knowledge, no other alternatives for a landing strip or home base were looked into for their (the helicopters) placement." Again this statement is absolutely untrue. The State Police medevac unit considered Picatinny Arsenal, Solberg Airport and Central Jersey Airport. This was reported in every newspaper in the area, including the Courier News, and most publications carried that information on more than one occasion. The State Police made the decision to base their operation at Somerset Airport after a careful study of available sites.

He says, "taxpayers will be paying for their (the victims) rescues." That is not true, either. This public service is financed by a $1 charge on automobile registrations, not by any taxes. The cost per patient is $1,337 and insurance companies will pick it up. If they don't, the patient is billed, but if they can't afford it, they are excused from payment.

The medevac services from Pennsylvania, which are run by profit-making commercial operations, are reported to charge anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 per mission and the commercial operators take patients to Pennsylvania hospitals where the costs are higher because Pennsylvania insurance rates are lower than those in New Jersey and consequently don't cover as much. Their object is to take business away from New Jersey hospitals.

He states that "response time to the scene of an accident could be an irrelevant part of the equation in most cases." That is one more untrue statement. In cases where citizens are critically injured, "the golden hour" is the critical time between life and death. Medical authorities have proven that getting the patient to a trauma center within that time is critical.

Mr. Ginsberg states that he is against airplanes and helicopters flying over our residential communities. He should know that when Somerset Airport was licensed, aerial photos show no homes whatsoever in the immediate vicinity of the airport. A couple of farmhouses were visible far off in the distance. The airport did not move into a residential community. The residential community moved in on the airport. People who are not happy living next to an airport are not forced to live there. As a matter of fact, if conditions were anywhere near as bad as most protesters claim, they certainly wouldn't live there. They would move elsewhere.

He says if the medevac personnel were based at hospitals, they could be used at those hospitals during their down time, which is to say they should be doing two jobs at once.

Mr. Ginsberg's letter is a prime example of the lengths to which protesters will go with unfounded statements and distortions of facts in order to make their case.

Warren