By Mike Crowley
The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
CONNEAUT LAKE, Pa. — In a move that is expected to restore around-the-clock emergency medical services to the Conneaut Lake area, Erie -based EmergyCare will take over operations of Conneaut Lake Area Ambulance Service (CLAAS) this spring, the two nonprofits announced Monday.
Standing in front of a CLAAS ambulance with the familiar light and dark blue color scheme and a brand-new EmergyCare ambulance with a wide orange stripe, CLAAS officials described significant staffing difficulties and welcomed the greater resources that EmergyCare brings with it.
“It’s a good day,” said Dave Perfett, president of the board that oversees CLAAS. “We’re happy for the whole Conneaut Lake area. We’re going to be able to provide good service again, and we’re happy for the relief it might bring to the employees.”
In a news conference attended by employees of both organizations, Perfett and his fellow board member Jay Parker described an employment landscape that left CLAAS in recent years with just two full-time employees: one paramedic and one emergency medical technician, plus 14 part-time employees who provided additional staffing when possible. The situation made around-the-clock coverage impossible and regular coverage hit-and-miss even as it overtaxed existing employees.
“Our number of calls that were getting dropped steadily increased,” Parker said. “We had days when we didn’t have anybody on call.”
Attempts to recruit additional staff members proved unsuccessful, and part-timers were unable to fill scheduling gaps because they were working full-time jobs elsewhere, he added.
Madeira Paroskos — who started with CLAAS as an emergency medical technician (EMT) in 2003, became chief in 2007 and who is also now director of operations — said the move to affiliate with EmergyCare is “in the best interests of the community” given the critical shortage of EMS workers, particularly in northwestern Pennsylvania.
“We need the help,” Paraskos said. “My prayer is that we will have the resources we need to meet the needs of the people. It hasn’t been for lack of trying. We’re surrounded by wonderful fire departments with mutual-aid (agreements), but everyone is truly struggling.”
EmergyCare’s 280 employees operate 40 ambulances and five medical response SUV units across the northwestern portion of the state and respond to nearly 45,000 EMS calls each year, according to David Basnak, the nonprofit’s president and executive director. Two keys to the organization’s growth in recent years, despite the challenging employment landscape, have been increased wages and an in-house training program with courses ranging from beginner EMTs to paramedics, he said.
EmergyCare recently began offering paid training in Erie for job candidates with no experience.
“They’re paid to go through EMT class and then we have job placement after that,” Basnak said. The company hopes to expand its certification classes to Conneaut Lake over the summer, he added.
Before that, the first goal is to restore around-the-clock service. Basnak said he hopes to bring the current level of two full-time personnel up to eight at first and eventually about 10, with additional part-time staff as well.
Already on Monday, job openings in Conneaut Lake for one full-time and one part-time paramedic, a full-time advanced EMT and a full-time EMT were listed on the EmergyCare website.
Parker said operating CLAAS on a 24-7 basis would have required four full-time paramedics and four full-time EMTs. Despite recruiting efforts and increased benefits, efforts to expand the staff were unsuccessful.
“We knew that was never going to come,” he added. “The people are just not out there.”
Asked where EmergyCare expects to find employees that CLAAS couldn’t find, Basnak pointed to the company’s certification classes.
“We make them,” he said.
To keep those employees, EmergyCare has emphasized better pay in recent years, more than doubling the starting wage for an employee with no experience from $10.27 per hour in 2018 to the current rate of $21 per hour, according to Basnak. A major factor enabling those increases was the 2024 change to EMS reimbursement for Medicaid patients in Pennsylvania , which raised the base rate and expanded reimbursement to include all miles traveled with a patient rather than exempting the first 20 miles.
Besides the new orange color scheme, which is hard to miss, and more regular service, residents won’t notice too many changes, according to Basnak, who said CLAAS memberships will be honored by EmergyCare.
As the news conference ended and current and former CLAAS staff members talked in groups, Parker recalled taking his first advanced first aid course as a teen in the mid-1970s when his parents were among several families involved in starting CLAAS. Half a century later, he helped oversee the end of the agency they founded.
“It’s a sad day it’s not going to be CLAAS,” he said, “but this is a win-win for the community.”
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