Two Pittsburgh area EMS services now among the less than 200 in the U.S. to receive national accreditation
ALLISON PARK, Pa. (KDKA) - Less than 200 EMS agencies currently meet national accreditation standards, out of 18,000 in the country.
Now two of them are in Northern Allegheny County.
That was the topic of discussion at an event in Allison Park at the Allegheny County Public Safety Training Campus Friday morning.
Chief of the Ross/West View EMS Authority Greg Porter had a specific reason he wanted to seek the highest accreditation for their ambulance services.
"Ambulance services across the commonwealth are struggling - EMS is in a crisis," Porter said. "Not only are we doing better for our communities, doing better for our staff, but we're highlighting the successes of the EMS system, and making it better, so we can continue to fight for funding, continue to fight for recognition, and continue to provide those services to our communities."
Ross/West View, along with McCandless–Franklin Park, both earned national accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS), considered the 'Gold Standard of the Ambulance Industry.'
Chris Dell is the chief of McCandless–Franklin Park.
"To ensure that our communities, the patients that we serve, are served with clinical excellence and the assurance of administrative excellence," Dell said.
It's a process that took nearly two years.
For each agency, the commission needed to review more than 1,200 documents and go through a checklist of 1,000 items during an on-site inspection. In the past month, inspectors spent hours looking over the medical care patients are receiving, response times, management practices, safety, and educational training.
They also worked directly with the medical directors at UPMC and Allegheny General Hospital.
"The value on the backside is incredible," Porter said.
Since earning the honor, they've noticed a greater sense of morale and excitement among their teams, and they hope the accreditation is that spark to continue to improve in the years to come.
"We plan to use the accreditation quite frankly as a catalyst for future growth," Dell said.
Only six of the 1,000 ambulance services in Pennsylvania are CAAS-accredited.
The Allegheny County EMS Council helped fund a part of the accreditation process.