This article is a companion piece to the Sept. 2008 EMS Magazine article Docs on Demand: New Jersey incorporates a physician go-team into its response arsenal.

In the early part of the decade, authorities in New Jersey identified emergency medical services as an aspect of the state's public safety capabilities that needed to be enhanced, particularly the areas of incident management and specialization. As a result, officials in 2003 proposed the New Jersey EMS Task Force (EMSTF), a state resource designed to fill gaps in response using a well-coordinated all-hazards approach and working through the state's emergency management system. The EMSTF would be composed of assets from agencies throughout the state and activated for large-scale emergencies and high-profile events, providing needed resources and incident management support to impacted areas when their own resources were overwhelmed.

A steering committee was created to help bring the idea to reality; it included representatives from the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's University Hospital EMS, the New Jersey Association of Paramedic Programs, the Medical Transportation Association of New Jersey, and volunteer EMS. The plan would divide the state into three regions: North, Central and South, each with seven counties. Three hospitals--University Hospital in Newark (North), Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick (Central) and Atlantic City Medical Center (South)--would serve as regional "anchors." Activation would occur through the North Regional Dispatch Center.

The EMSTF was formally announced in a June 2004 letter to state EMS providers from the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Health. This letter provided information about contacting the state EMS office to establish membership. Members would receive additional education and training in a variety of specialties. Once their training was complete, the EMSTF would provide the resources and tools for these individuals to do their specialized jobs.

The EMSTF was initially planned to have a response capability of 42 BLS ambulances, 14 ALS units, four special-operations vehicles, and lighting and communications vehicles that would be deployable to an incident. However, as it came together, the focus changed to a modular structure of specialized resources that could supplement and plug holes in EMS response capabilities. These modules include: