Perry County EMS Council

Attempts to re-organize the Perry County EMS Council started in August 2002, with informal meetings among all interested organizations. At the first official meeting of the Council on May 21, 2003, at the Blain Fire Station, officers were elected and various re-organization issues were discussed.

The Council is comprised of 2 delegates (1 primary delegate and 1 alternate delegate) from each of the 10 Perry County Ambulance Leagues and West Shore EMS. The Council meets every other month on the 3rd Wednesday at 7:30 pm at the various stations in Perry County on a rotating basis, alphabetically by league. Anyone from any of the Perry County leagues are welcome to attend the meetings, however, only the delegate (or the alternate) can vote on issues.

The purpose of the Council is to bring together, for their mutual benefit and the benefit of the community, various Perry County EMS providers to meet and discuss issues of concern.

One of the major issues affecting all EMS organizations, not only in Perry County, but state-wide and even nation-wide, is that of a lack of providers. During its first year, the Council has looked into ways of recruiting and retaining people to serve. Suggestions have ranged from contacting the school districts to offer EMT classes to a county-wide personnel list. We all know it is a hard issue to tackle and we wish there was a "crystal ball" that would show us the solution. But by working together, along with the help of HACC and the Emergency Health Services Federation (EHSF), we have a better opportunity to find that solution.

Some of the other issues included the updating the Mass Casualty Plan, updating the County SOP's, updating the County-wide Mutual Aid Agreement and providing training for EMS providers.

Finally, the officers and delegates would like to thank the Perry County Commissioners, Larry Smeigh, Esther Rowe, Mike Tonkay (HACC) and Steve Lyle (EHSF) and their staffs for their time and support they have given and continue to give to our organization. Without them, we would have never been able to re-organize.

Did you know that in Pennsylvania there are:

* 47,787 registered EMS Personnel (32,869 EMT-B's; 10,852 Paramedics and 4,066 First Responders)

* 1,515 EMS Services

And there were 1.7 million requests for EMS Service!

updated 7/27/2008