Mutual Aid takes over for Ligonier Valley ambulance

Mutual Aid Ambulance Service will add a new location to its territory Saturday as it takes over operation of the Ligonier Valley Ambulance Service.

The Ligonier Valley service had operated under the auspices of Excela Health Latrobe Hospital. The transition to the Greensburg-based service concludes Excela Health's year-long exploration of options for continuing emergency medical services in the Ligonier Valley.

Officials with Mutual Aid, which was founded in 1968 and has 11 other ambulance stations serving more than 220,000 residents in eastern and central Westmoreland County, weren't available for comment.

According to an Excela news release, Mutual Aid will provide daily 24-hour service with Advanced Life Support crews, including paramedics and emergency medical technicians, from the existing Ligonier ambulance station on North Market Street. It will use the same vehicles previously dispatched from that site including three ambulances, a wheelchair van and a supervisor response vehicle. There will be an eventual transition to Mutual Aid's color scheme, the release states.

Excela indicated Ligonier Valley ambulance staff were given an opportunity to transfer to employment either with Mutual Aid or Excela and noted 11 of them will be joining Mutual Aid's staff of 220.

Ligonier native Scot Graham, a senior supervisor for Mutual Aid who has 32 years of paramedic experience with that service, will be the interim manager of the Ligonier ambulance station.

“Veteran staff previously employed with LVAS will be working alongside an equally experienced MAAS crew,” the release states, noting that “many paramedics and emergency medical technicians from MAAS have been members of the part-time or casual pool of employees at LVAS over the years.”

Those who subscribed to the Ligonier Valley Ambulance Service will have their annual membership extended for four extra months. ending April 1, 2018, according to Excela.

The Ligonier ambulance service “has functioned more or less as a department of the hospital and less as an emergency medical response operation,” the release states. “This transition will allow for the refocus of the service to its original intent.”

“Transitioning the service to a provider that has been recognized within the state and across the country for its quality benchmarks was important to Excela Health and Latrobe Hospital, thus ensuring that the highest standards for emergency response will be maintained,” Maryann Singley, vice president of patient care services at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital, said in the release.

Jim McDonnell, Ligonier Borough Council president, said he expects a smooth transition to the new management of the local ambulance service.

“We're looking forward to the change,” he said. “It's been coming for a good while. We won't miss a beat.”

“I hope most of the people don't really see much of a change,” said John Beaufort, emergency management coordinator for Ligonier Township. “I think it's going to be a little different. It will take a while to get used to.”

Ligonier Valley Ambulance Service was founded in 1967 through a gift from the R.K. Mellon Foundation and served Ligonier and Laurel Mountain boroughs, Ligonier Township and part of Fairfield Township.

A past Pennsylvania Ambulance Service of the Year, Mutual Aid was the first provider in Western Pennsylvania to use an Advanced Life Support ambulance, the release notes.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.