October 27, 2022

Dear resident and business owner,

Ross/West View Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) has a long history of being a leader in Pennsylvania’s EMS system. Advancing clinical care each day, we lead our system in how EMS organizations should be managed and demonstrate the very best compassion and patient care anywhere. Beyond emergency ambulance responses, Ross/West View EMSA spends countless hours engaging our communities in programs to prevent injury and loss of life. We spend countless hours teaching citizens, and other public safety professionals various classes ranging from CPR, First Aid, Emergency Medical Technician all the way through advanced rescue training. Our EMT’s and Paramedics participate in and lead multiple local, county, and regional teams for specialized care and rescue.

Dating back to 1978, Ross/West View EMSA prided itself on being self-sustaining and not needing or taking funding from any community. As EMS has changed dramatically over the years, increased employee costs, less volunteers, dramatically increased expenses, and significant decline in insurance reimbursement, we now operate at a financial loss. The crisis in the EMS system across the United States, but particularly, in the Ross/West View EMSA service area, is at a breaking point. Our financial position is dismal at best. Our current liabilities are larger than our combined cash and capital assets. Our ambulance operating expense is at a loss. We have purchased limited new capital equipment based solely on donations, and our staff wages are lower than industry standards and local competitive services.

Without the addition of meaningful change and sustainable funding, Ross/West View EMSA will need to begin to downsize, shed services and operate at a much lower standard than we have all come to expect. Our future is in jeopardy. The time for change is now.

For these reasons, we are proposing a nominal Emergency Ambulance Service Fee to be spread across residents and businesses in all five communities served by Ross/West View EMSA. This fee will improve our wages, equipment, staffing and most importantly, delivery of services to the citizens in the communities we serve. We look forward to the community support that we need to continue taking care of all of you.

Gregory Porter

Executive Director