Throughout 45 years of responding to emergencies in Pittsburgh, two in particular stick with EMS Chief Ron Romano.

In the early 1980s, a woman fell down some steps while eating ice cream and swallowed the spoon. A few years later, a call came in for an infant in Highland Park who wasn’t breathing. Chief Romano and other emergency responders helped save the woman and the baby.

In each of those emergencies, the parents kept in touch with emergency responders. The father of the woman who swallowed the spoon invited paramedics to her wedding. The mother of the baby brought him to EMS headquarters each year to visit.

Chief Romano, whose last day in uniform was Friday, will officially retire at the end of April. 

City Council members honored Chief Romano in a ceremony last week, where acting Chief Amera Gilchrist presented him with a pin commemorating his 45 years of service.

“One of the kindest things you said to me … is that I was your right and your left hand,” she told him. “It’s been an honor to serve by your side.”

Chief Romano joined Pittsburgh as a paramedic in March 1978, about three years after he began his EMS career with Perman Ambulance Service. He was named division chief of the ambulance division in 2005, a position in which he was tasked with overseeing EMS planning for major public events. He was named deputy chief in 2016 and chief of EMS in 2018.

He was working at Shadyside Hospital in the 1970s when a friend pointed him toward Perman Funeral Home, which doubled as a private ambulance service. It was a job that stuck and became a career.

“A lot of people now come in and work it as a job,” Chief Romano said Monday. “I call it a career. A lot of people don’t stay more than three or five years.”

For him, it was the pace.

“You took what you learned and put it into practical use, seeing results in the streets or in the field,” he said. “Every day was different. I liked it a lot more than working at a hospital where you’re confined to a certain space.”

It was also a job that afforded him the opportunity to advance, as evidenced by his trajectory from paramedic to chief during his tenure. That advancement led to other opportunities. He has met two presidents and vice presidents, he met Dr. Henry Heimlich, and he spent years overseeing the city’s special events and Steelers’ games.

“It was an exciting life,” he said.

Now, he hopes to exercise more and do some of the chores which he never got around to over the years.

On Monday, he trimmed bushes along his property line. He had been meaning to do it for years.

He’s in a bocce league, and he has grandchildren to keep him busy. There’s a pandemic-delayed Alaskan cruise on the books for later this year. Next month, he’s taking his children and grandchildren to Disney World.

“Just like any MVP, I’m going to Disney,” he said.

There is much to look forward to, he said, and he’s not worried about his choice.

“I can believe it’s over, I know it’s time — it’s a young man’s job,” he said, noting that the reality of retirement will likely sink in next month when he is actually officially retired. “I believe I had a successful career. I hope I made a difference — I think there are many times I did make a difference. I cared about people.”

First Published: April 3, 2023, 9:03 p.m.
Updated: April 4, 2023, 11:02 a.m.