By Erin Gibson Allen
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Copyright 2007 P.G. Publishing Co.
PITTSBURGH — Nora Helfrich, sitting at her desk one day last month, checked her voice mail and found a congratulatory message from the White House.
Uncle Sam was calling to recognize Tri-Community South EMS’ recent award for excellence. In August, the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council, an independent advisory board to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, crowned Tri-Community the 2007 Ambulance Service of the Year.
The nonprofit service in Bethel Park provides emergency medical services to Bethel Park, South Park and Upper St. Clair. Ms. Helfrich is the director,
Douglas Watkins, the township manager for Upper St. Clair, submitted a letter nominating Tri-Community. He wrote: “I can state how fortunate the 80,000-plus residents of Bethel Park, South Park, and Upper St. Clair are to have EMS service which protects, promotes, and saves lives every day in our communities.”
Mr. Watkins pointed out that this service operates without local tax dollars, and is therefore cost-effective for residents.
Tri-Community is the second-largest EMS provider in Allegheny County behind the City of Pittsburgh, said Ms. Helfrich, who started there as a volunteer 28 years ago.
It provides service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, handling approximately 20 calls a day, with six to eight medics working on any one shift.
The staff prides itself on providing quality care in a timely manner. The average response time, said Ms. Helfrich, is between 4 and 11 minutes.
The service operates six ambulances, all of which are certified for advanced life support. Last year it also provided standby service at 260 events, including local football and soccer games.
Tri-Community is one of only 107 emergency medical services in the nation to be recognized by the Commission on the Accreditation of Ambulance Services, an association that sets standards for the medical transportation industry that are typically higher than that required for state licensing.
This accreditation process requires a detailed application and thorough on-site inspection.
Tri-Community moved into a new, 14,500 square-foot building in Bethel Park two years ago. Members of the staff and the medics diligently maintain the building themselves, including cleaning the bathrooms and laying mulch outside. Classroom space at the new building accommodates up to 75 people, and can turn into living quarters for medics in a disaster.
The service offers training and educational opportunities through affiliations with the Community College of Allegheny County, the American Heart Association, and the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, a multihospital consortium dedicated to the advancement of emergency medicine.
Several of the students trained through the Center for Emergency Medicine come from foreign countries, such as South Korea and Qatar.
“Through such students, Tri-Community has an impact throughout the world,’' said John Bower, a supervisor.
The service also offers training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation for groups and has worked to place external defibrillators -- a portable automatic device used to restore normal heart rhythm in patients in cardiac arrest-- in public places throughout the community.
Many of the medics with Tri-Community participate in the Critical Incident Stress Management Team of Allegheny County, a team of trained volunteers who provide counseling to emergency workers who have responded to traumatic events.
Tri-Community workers provided counseling and support for major disasters, including the crash of USAir flight 427 in 1994, the crash of flight 93 in Shanksville on September 11, 2001 and the Quecreek mine rescue in 2002.
Ms. Helfrich attributes at least part of the service’s success to its loyal employees. Three employees have been with Tri-Community since it first started operations in 1978, she said. She calculates the average length of service at 15 years, a time quite remarkable in an industry that typically struggles with retention.
Still, despite its success, this service and all emergency responders worry about the future. Ms. Helfrich explained that the main revenue source for EMS providers is from health insurers, such as Medicare. Reimbursement rates, she said, are declining while costs continue to rise.
Also, she said, new life-saving technology is costly. A single cardiac monitoring device costs $27,000.
And, she said, subscriptions, a form of fund-raising from community members, are down in recent years.
Also, recruitment has been difficult for emergency medical services throughout the nation. Kevin Trichtinger, a supervisor with Tri-Community, points out that the national average annual salaries are significantly lower for emergency medical service providers than for police or firefighters. And, Ms. Helfrich said, emergency medical service providers do not get the same recognition attention as other first-responders.
“You never hear people talk about the emergency medical responders who lost their lives on 911,’' she said.