New Square - Hatzalah joins Ramapo Ambulance Service.

RAMAPO — The Village of New Square’s ambulance corps is joining ranks with the other five corps that contract with the town to provide emergency medical services to taxpayers.

The agreement, approved by the Ramapo Town Board at its meeting Wednesday, follows the village’s recent receipt of its permanent license from the state Department of Health, said Kim Lippes, Rockland County’s coordinator of emergency medical services.

The license was granted following a two-year application and vetting process during which the corps had to demonstrate that it is effective and viable, Lippes said.

New Square formed its own ambulance corps a few years ago after separating from Chevra Hatzoloh of Rockland County, the Monsey-based emergency medical services agency that is among the five corps that currently contract with Ramapo.

“We’re just catching up,” New Square Village Clerk David Breuer said of the village’s request to join Ramapo’s Ambulance District No. 1.

Forty volunteers and four ambulances make up the corps that serves the village of some 7,000 people. Volunteers’ private vehicles can be registered with the state as first responder vehicles, Breuer said.

Under the new contract, New Square will receive $350,450 — the remainder of its 2012 budget — from Ramapo’s ambulance fund to provide services for the rest of the year, retroactive to June 1.

The village plans to continue the agreement in 2013, Breuer said.

Previously, the corps was funded with the help of donations and insurance reimbursements from people who receive services.

New Square taxpayers won’t see much of a financial impact since, like all Ramapo property owners, they already pay town ambulance taxes that fund services provided by all the other corps, Town Attorney Michael Klein said Thursday.

Ramapo will take over collecting insurance reimbursements from village residents who receive emergency medical services from the New Square agency.

“It’s not something (residents) will see, but it’s part of the big picture of being part of the Town of Ramapo’s ambulance district,” Breuer said.

New Square’s first responders will continue to be dispatched primarily within village boundaries, a territory they share with Hatzoloh.

By joining the town’s ambulance district, New Square personnel also could be dispatched to cover mutual aid calls and assist with special events throughout Ramapo, Klein said.

Breuer said New Square residents typically call the Hatzoloh hotline, 845-425-1600, when they have an emergency, though they also may call 911 and the calls are forwarded to village dispatchers. The new town contract shouldn’t affect this system, he said.

The other agencies that make up Ramapo Ambulance District No. 1 are Sloatsburg Community Ambulance Corps, Spring Hill Community Ambulance Corps, Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps and William Paul Faist Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

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