By Mike Crowley
The Meadville Tribune
MEADVILLE, Pa. — Meadville Central Fire Department hopes to change the way emergency medical services work — not just in Meadville but maybe even in rural communities across the state and perhaps even farther.
The plan would address a key problem facing EMS providers generally and Meadville Central specifically — the hundreds of ambulance trips each year that could probably be better handled elsewhere but end up at the emergency room because that’s the only option.
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But realizing that sort of transformation would take a transformational amount of money — far more than a city with a $13.7 million annual budget could generate by cutting other expenses or imposing even a significant tax hike.
To pull it off would require an infusion from some other well-funded source — perhaps the federal government.
So when city officials learned last week that Meadville will benefit from a $1.2 million congressionally directed spending appropriation requested by Sen. Dave McCormick, it was more than just a pleasant surprise.
“It’s exciting and scary — it’s fantastic to see people willing to invest in our community and our department, but we also understand there’s a lot of work to be done,” Chief Evan Kardosh said in an interview Tuesday. “Any time we’re trying to do something that’s new and hasn’t really been done that frequently in this area, that takes a lot of time, effort and energy, but we’re excited to take that step and begin that journey.”
The funding was included in the $1.2 trillion package signed by President Donald Trump on Feb. 3 to avert a partial government shutdown and was part of more than $270 million in federal funding that McCormick secured for projects across the state.
Other funding for Crawford County projects included $700,000 a Meadville Area Sewer Authority force main replacement and $500,000 for a Conneaut Lake Joint Municipal Authority wastewater treatment plant upgrade. Congressionally directed spending awards, which were established in 2022, can benefit government agencies and nonprofits and come with increased restrictions and greater transparency than the traditional “earmark” spending that was banned by Congress in 2011
“This funding delivers real results for Pennsylvanians,” McCormick said in an announcement. “It helps communities advance important projects and ensures taxpayer dollars are put to work where they are needed most. This money would have been spent by those in Washington, D.C. , regardless. My goal is to steer these tax dollars home to worthy projects rather than leave these decisions to unelected bureaucrats.”
The mobile integrated health program that the fire department plans to develop with the funding was conceived by city staff members and embraced by McCormick’s office, according to City Manager Maryann Menanno .
“It was all thanks to Sen. McCormick and his support for this idea,” she said. “No other entities — among municipalities especially — do anything like this, so it’s a really innovative and patient-centered endeavor.”
The goal, Menanno continued, is to reduce unnecessary transports while still meeting patient needs, supporting EMS providers and aligning with hospital systems.
“No existing models have successfully balanced all three,” she said.
The transports in question certainly don’t feel unnecessary to the patients involved, according to Kardosh.
“Right now, that’s the only avenue for people to get help. We really don’t have a way to treat some of the more minor conditions or help direct them anywhere besides an emergency department,” he said. “But when we’re looking at the realm of emergency services and emergency departments, finding ways that would be similar to an emergent care setting or referring to a PCP (primary care provider) — getting them the care they need without tying up the ambulance or the emergency room. That’s kind of the ultimate goal.”
In other cases, patients would prefer not to go to the emergency room, but they don’t have other health care options, according to Kardosh. The point is not to prevent people from using the ER but to more efficiently match patients to the most appropriate health care setting.
Common calls that could be better served include dozens of calls each year for patients with tooth pain, occasional calls for bug bites that don’t involve allergic reactions, as well as calls related to ongoing chronic pain that could likely be evaluated without transporting the patient via ambulance.
More efficient and appropriate responses will depend largely on advancing the medical training of the department’s firefighters and equipment upgrades that allow for more varied and nimble treatment options. Thus, the new funding will address multiple department needs: a new ambulance to replace one of the three used vehicles currently in the department’s fleet; training that will qualify all of the department’s firefighter-EMTs as paramedics (eight of 22 are qualified now, with one more in training); additional telehealth and patient assessment equipment; and an additional administrative position to coordinate telehealth activities.
Kardosh was optimistic that the impact of these improvements would spread well beyond the city limits. The department responded to more than 400 medical calls outside the city last year, he noted, and a more efficient approach is also likely to allow for a better use of resources at the emergency room.
The funding will be delivered over three years beginning later this year. While no launch date for the mobile integrated health program has been set, Kardosh said additional planning meetings will take place this week as the reality of this new “exciting and scary” opportunity sets in.
“We’re building something great,” Kardosh said, “not just at the fire department but within the city.”
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