Ambulance service closing worries rural Westmoreland County communities

A rural ambulance company abruptly closed this week, catching many residents in northeastern Westmoreland County by surprise and leaving some on edge.

Connellsville-based Fayette EMS operated the Laurel Valley Ambulance Service station in New Florence since 2007. It closed Monday, with the door now padlocked and posted with “No Trespassing” signs by Fayette EMS.

“This is no small problem,” said Jeffrey Miller, who is municipal solicitor for two of the impacted communities, Fairfield and New Florence. “Laurel Valley was the primary ambulance service for a lot of residents in New Florence, Fairfield Township, Seward and St. Clair (Township) for many years, and it’s now closed.

”Some residents are rightfully concerned about emergency response times, and what if the ambulances now serving these areas happen to be out on another call and are needed?

Contingency dispatch plans are in place following the closing, said Roland “Bud” Mertz, director of the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety.

“I want the public to know their calls will not go unanswered. If we have not received a designated responder from the particular municipality, then we will send the nearest available ambulance to emergencies,” Mertz said.

Helping fill the void are the Mutual Aid Ambulance station in Ligonier, Citizen’s Ambulance Service in Indiana County and West End Ambulance in Johnstown, Mertz said.

Impacted municipalities “should not have been shocked at all,” said Richard Adobato, Fayette EMS chief operations officer.

“We informed those municipalities in mid-September that we would be closing by the end of December, and they had to make other arrangements,” he said. “We stepped in there in 2007 like a big brother and took over when they were having financial trouble, and it just became too unstable financially that we couldn’t continue to subsidize it.”

The closing came earlier than anticipated after remaining New Florence employees found jobs elsewhere, leaving no one to properly staff the station, Adobato said.

“Not a single tax dollar supports the ambulance service in those communities, and the money is not there to continue operation,” he said.

He declined to say how much Laurel Valley lost each year.

“I will tell you that it would take 115 calls a month to break even, and last month they did just 35 calls,” he said.

Laurel Valley is not the only rural community having trouble sustaining ambulance services. On Oct. 31, the Port Matilda Emergency Medical Service in Centre County posted a Facebook message that it’s financial situation was in “critical” condition and unless membership support was received it was in danger of closing.

New Florence Mayor Neva Gindlesperger said West End Ambulance in Johnstown is now the primary ambulance responder in the town.

“West End was closer to us than Mutual Aid in Ligonier. Seward also is using West End,” she said. “Ambulance service coverage is a changing environment in rural communities like ours. There’s not much we can do.”

It comes down to being able to pay the bills, said Gindlesperger, mayor of the town with a population of 750 people.

“This station only averaged one call a week out of here, and you can’t sustain an ambulance service today on that,” she said.

Many residents are worried over increased ambulance response times because of the closing, said Sheryl Melville, who operates Kinsey’s Kookies & More bakery in New Florence. Melville’s family has lived in the borough for more than 30 years and felt safe knowing an ambulance service was so close.

“It’s scary to tell you the truth. We will now have to wait at least 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive from West End Ambulance in Johnstown,” Melville said. “We’ve got to pray nothing major happens.”