What was defeat for Seneca Area Emergency Services in Sharpsburg may turn into a second chance in Indiana Township for the ambulance service. For now, it will continue to serve the township.
“Right now we’re on hold. We’re giving them the opportunity to deal with losing Sharpsburg,” said Dan Anderson, Indiana Township manager.
Sharpsburg council voted in October to replace Seneca Valley with Parkview Ambulance Service of O’Hara, after two very contentious meetings where citizens came out strongly in support of Seneca. The vote was 5-2, with Sharpsburg council president Brittany Reno and Councilman Joe Simbari voting against the change. Seneca had provided emergency services in Sharpsburg since 1995.
Mr. Simbari said he voted to keep Seneca because of the company’s continued improvements over the years.
Ms. Reno asked council if they wanted to vote in September, but council delayed action in order to study the issue. A month later, council voted to turn its service over to Parkview.
Mr. Anderson said he reviewed Seneca’s 990 financial forms and determined the nonprofit was operating with a $45,000 surplus. “Seneca isn’t that bad,” he said.
Seneca deserves time to make improvements, or even make a cooperative agreement or merge with a neighboring EMS, Mr. Anderson said. Indiana is served by two ambulance services, Seneca and Lower Valley EMS, which is located on Freeport Road in Cheswick.
When necessary, neighboring EMS departments, just as with fire departments, provide assistance. This is true in all communities, Mr. Anderson said. Foxwall, Hampton/Shaler, West Deer, Parkview and others join together with Seneca and Lower Valley when the need arises.
Some of them are struggling financially,” Mr. Anderson said. “I would expect to see more mergers around here.”
Meanwhile, Seneca is working on adding personnel, an issue with most emergency services in the area, according to Bill Alexander, chief of operations.
“We’re making a lot of changes to end up strong, together with other services in the area,” he said. He said merger talk has come up at local EMS board meetings. “It seems to be the wave of the future.”
Volunteer fire departments are having similar issues, he said.
Bill Humes, executive director of West Deer EMS on East Union Road, said mergers, “Should always be on the radar to take care of our residents the best way possible.” He said local services has chatted unofficially about collaborating. “We’d be open to that.”
Rita Michel, freelance writer, suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: November 14, 2019, 12:30 p.m.