Westmoreland County residents express concern over EMS closure
MT. PLEASANT, Pa. (KDKA) -- Neighbors in Kecksburg are sharing their concerns about the upcoming end-of-year closure of their community volunteer ambulance service.
KDKA-TV reported a week ago that paramedics in the Westmoreland County town could not respond to calls on one of the service's closing days because the locks had been changed on their ambulance shed.
Chad Bender told KDKA-TV that he's been a patient of the Kecksburg Rescue Ambulance Service twice for serious falls.
"They showed up. I mean, it felt like five minutes," Bender said.
Once the service shuts down, ambulance services away from the town will take over.
"It kind of upset me because they had saved me twice. I really don't want to see that happen," Bender said.
KDKA-TV attempted to reach the service's chief on Saturday to learn why they are shutting down. They did not respond.
They told the Tribune-Review that they have struggled in recent years to get enough certified volunteers to fill ambulance crews. They said the decision to close was made after they could not respond to less than 50% of calls.
John Blizman, the assistant chief of the organization, told KDKA-TV that's not the full story.
"I think we could definitely make improvements with stuffing and improve our call response rate," Blizman said.
He added he cannot technically speak for the organization from his position.
He said the organization's top leadership is responsible for their response rate and low staffing. He and others have been cut out of decision-making, he said. They attempted to bring up ideas on how to improve leadership and aid in recruitment.
"Unfortunately, those efforts have been met with nothing but resistance from the existing leadership, which has been in leadership since the late 90s," Blizman said. "Unfortunately, due to that, our member and response rate has dipped below an acceptable level."
Top leadership refused to hold an officer election, Blizman said. That would violate their bylaws.
For many of his neighbors, Blizman estimates that ambulance calls will take an average of 10 minutes longer to respond to.
"Yeah, it just makes me worry, because if something does happen, even to one of my children or myself, again, that's how long it is going to take for somebody else to get here," Bender said. "I don't want to worry about meeting somebody in an emergency and then having to wait an extra amount of time just because it's got to be a different service that's going to help us."
He is hoping they can find some way to stay open.
While not responding to calls, the organization will still be active come Jan. 1, and equipment will remain in their possession until sold, leaving open the potential for them to restart operations.
