Government

Former Brick Volunteer EMS Building to Become Senior Center

by
Daniel Nee
June 23, 2021

The former Brick Volunteer EMS building on Aurora Place. (Credit: Google Maps)

A building that was previously owned by the former Brick Volunteer EMS squad is going to be turned into a combination of a senior center and facility for the township’s current paid EMTs.

In 2019, Brick sued to gain control of the building, located on Aurora Place between Duquesne Boulevard and Cedar Bridge Avenue, following the 2014 disbandment of the Brick Volunteer EMS organization, which remained technically active even after it no longer provided medical services. The building was given to the Breton Woods Fire Company in the 1970s and transferred to the volunteer EMS squad in 2002 for $1, but the township successfully argued that ownership should revert back to the municipal government because it was no longer being used for its intended purpose.

In a capital budget introduced Tuesday night, Mayor John Ducey announced that the township would dedicate $1 million toward the renovation of the building so it can become a full-time senior center, as well as an alternative base for some EMT vehicles. For years, the township’s senior center has been located within the VFW hall on Mantoloking Road, and times for events have been limited. There have been frequent calls for the township to provide a regular senior center for many years.

“It will be right in the center of towns so seniors won’t have to travel to the edges of Brick,” said Ducey. “We get a lot of requests that seniors want to come and spend the day, play cards, but in the past we couldn’t be there all hours.”

Part of the renovations will include bringing the building up to standards to support the basing of some ambulances and their crews to better respond to calls in the southern portion of the township. The township’s EMTs, which fall under the auspices of the police department, currently operate from Civic Plaza on Chambers Bridge Road, another former volunteer building on Lanes Mill Road and remote locations around town.