Celebrating 50th annual EMS Week

EXETER, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — It’s National EMS Week a time to celebrate the hardworking EMTs and paramedics who respond when we need them most.

From urban to rural agencies, EMS services across the country and right here in our area are faced with challenges.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of EMS week, and the theme is “Honoring our past – forging our future”

The greater Pittston Regional Ambulance covers seventy-and-a-half square miles in the northeast section of Luzerne County. It’s headquartered in downtown Pittston, with another station across the Susquehanna River in Exeter Borough.

“We’re averaging anywhere between 25 and 35 dispatches a day, we’re on track to run approximately 8,000 calls this year, so we are a busy operation,” said Edward Szafran the Chief of Operations at Greater Pittston Regional Ambulance.

Ambulance services bill clients and their insurance companies for services, which is the main source of income for EMS.

The service must still pay for insurance, supplies, buildings as well as personnel.

“We’re all kind of working through the cost of living, and it affects not only me as an employee, but it also affects our operations, how we pay our bills, how we can do benefits and support our staff as best we can, and that’s an increasingly big issue in the industry,” explained Szafran

Greater Pittston Regional Ambulance is always looking to put more providers on the road. Many EMTs juggle working two jobs to make ends meet but, Szafran says it’s all for the patients and communities they serve.

“This is what we do. This is what we’re good at, this is what we’re proficient in, and we do enjoy it,” stated Szafran.

Although EMS week is just once a year, it is important to remember that these first responders are out saving lives 365 days a year.

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