Commonwealth Health to Provide ALS Coverage to West Pittston
2/19/2015
SCRANTON, Pa. (Feb. 20, 2015) – West Pittston Community Ambulance Association has contracted with Commonwealth Health Emergency Medical Services to provide 24-hour advanced life support coverage in an agreement described by the organization president as a “great benefit to our community.”
Under the agreement, which went into effect Feb. 19, CHEMS will provide round-the-clock advanced life support coverage to the borough. A CHEMS vehicle will be dedicated solely to West Pittston and will not be used for other purposes such as inter-facility or long distance transports.
In addition, CHEMS will serve as a backup basic life support provider when the West Pittston crew is responding to another call.
Cheryl Butera, president of the West Pittston Community Ambulance, calls the agreement a win-win situation for both the organization and the community and “a great benefit to our community.
“We will maintain our identity as the West Pittston Community Ambulance while offering our residents faster response times and a highly trained staff,” Butera said. “Commonwealth Health was the unanimous choice of our organization. We were so impressed with their capabilities, professionalism and technology.”
West Pittston is the first community in Luzerne County to contract with CHEMS which is serving communities in Lackawanna, Wayne, Wyoming and Pike counties and transports patients daily throughout a 12-county region.
In addition, CHEMS will provide community health screenings including blood pressure readings; bicycle patrols during events such as races, festivals and parades; a Fire Rehab team equipped to treat firefighters on scene during serious events; and an array of CPR/AED/basic life support and advance life support training programs through the American Heart Association Training Institute located at the CHEMS facility in Scranton.
Gary McIntyre, director of operations for CHEMS, said the medical transport company is grateful for the opportunity to expand its emergency service into Luzerne County.
“We look forward to this working relationship with West Pittston Community Ambulance and we plan to assist them in the navigation of new EMS regulations, technology training and documentation training,” McIntyre said. “By sharing our knowledge base with smaller community ambulance associations, we aim to assist them in staying up to date on the care they provide and their presence within their hometown.”
CHEMS introduced three critical care ground transport vehicles to Northeastern Pennsylvania in May and operates Commonwealth One, an advanced life support helicopter.
CHEMS is an arm of Commonwealth Health which operates six hospitals in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming and Columbia counties. CHEMS completed the acquisition of Community Life Support Systems last fall, expanding the fleet to more than 50 emergency response vehicles throughout the Northeastern Pennsylvania coverage area.
Back