With the closing of Crozer Chester Hospital, Chadds Ford Township supervisors officially declared a state of emergency in the township. The vote came during a special meeting of the board on Wednesday, May 7.
“I did declare a state of emergency last week because of the closure of Chester Crozer Hospital, which is really putting a cramp in our emergency services,” said Supervisors’ Chairman Timotha Trigg. She added that other townships have also made the same declaration.
According to township solicitor Mike Maddren, “Under the Emergency Services Act, the chair of a board can declare a state of emergency for seven days. At the end of the seven days, it expires unless it’s extended by consent of the majority of the board, which is why we’re here this evening.”
Maddren explained that Crozer was providing ambulance services for many municipalities that are adapting to the situation.
“Several municipalities have contracted with third-party providers, some are doing their own ALS [Advanced Life Support services], and the county is covering some other ones for 90 days,” Maddren said
He explained that there is a two-fold problem. One part is that there will be fewer ALSO vehicles on the street making rescues, while those that are making rescue calls may have to drive further to get a patient to a hospital that may be more crowded, but then have to make another call before it can get back to its home base.
“The concern now is there may be a slowdown in services because there’s a dearth of providers right now,” he said.
He acknowledged that it’s unknown at this point whether this would become a “deleterious situation, but it’s good to declare a state of emergency in advance because if you have to react by maybe contracting with someone else for secondary services, you have that in place.”
Township Manager Lacey Faber interjected, saying representatives from Concordville will be giving a presentation on the subject at the May 14 Board of Supervisors’ meeting.
Maddren then suggested that supervisors not give the declaration a specific end date because it’s a moving situation. So, the board then voted to extend the declaration of emergency indefinitely. The vote was 3-0.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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