National accreditation, hundreds of hours in training, and 146,000 miles on the road were some of the highlights of the 2024 year-in-review presentation by the McCandless-Franklin Park Ambulance Authority on Feb. 17.
Local council and municipality officials, community members, MFPAA staff and state Rep. Arvind Venkat attended the event held at the main station on Grubbs Road in McCandless.
MFPAA Chief Chris Dell presented a list of accomplishments and statistics performed by the crew of 37 employees, which help run everything smoothly.
“They have a great deal of pride, professionalism and high standards. Everybody always pitches in,” Dell said.
The crew consists of one captain, three lieutenants, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, wheelchair van operators and administrative and financial coordinators.
Numbers helped to tell the story of the busyness of the nonprofit. The MFPAA answered 9,412 total calls in 2024 with more than half, or about 5,600, resulting in patient transport.
Approximately 70,000 hours were worked by staff, and 146,000-plus miles were driven on emergency response calls.
Dell stressed the importance of training and safety. Employees had a combined total of 3,795 hours in various training courses or about an estimated 100 hours per staff member.
The MFPAA provided 735 hours of community service, whether teaching CPR, sending ambulances to local sports games, teaching Stop the Bleed to community and emergency personnel or assisting at the Pittsburgh Marathon last year.
The MFPAA also responds to each local fire department emergency call, Dell said.
The 37 employees were outfitted this past year with new personal protective equipment at a cost of about $5,000 each, including ballistic vests. Before this, their PPE was minimal. The equipment was acquired through funds raised in the annual capital campaign, Dell said.
Six ambulances are in operation, with a replacement coming for one vehicle at $400,000, the cost of the ambulance before being outfitted with the necessary medical equipment. The purchase largely was funded by a grant through the efforts of Venkat, Dell said.
The MFPAA also has one paramedic squad vehicle and two basic life squad vehicles. They acquired one LUCAS, or Lund University Cardiac Assist System, a mechanical chest compression device.
He said trying to perform CPR while driving down the road is “difficult to do,” and a LUCAS ensures “safety and quality of compressions.”
The ambulances currently have lesser quality compression devices, but Dell said they are working toward getting a LUCAS in each of their six ambulances.
Relatably, the MFPAA had 14 successful CPR resuscitations last year.
The biggest accomplishment in 2024 was the group became nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services, or CAAS, a major milestone for any ambulance service.
Dell said there are 18,000 EMS agencies nationwide and only 186 meet the “gold standard” of CAAS, with MFPAA being one of them.
The accreditation required a one-year off-site and a two-day on-site inspection complete with a 1,000-point checklist. The MFPAA received a perfect score, according to Dell’s report.
Dell said they always are looking for grants to help fund equipment and other needs and suggested the CAAS achievement could help with grant acquisition.
The MFPAA also earned gold in the American Hearth Association’s Mission: Lifeline awards, the highest award level by the organization. The award is designed to showcase EMS agencies for excellence in heart attack and stroke care.
The authority started sending out patient surveys on professionalism, appearance, patient communication, effort to address worries and compassion. So far, the review has been positive with each of these categories scoring 96% or higher, Dell said.
The authority also donated retired gear to EMS agencies that lost equipment because of the Florida hurricanes, according to the report.
The ambulance authority, incorporated in 1977, covers 64 square miles in McCandless, Franklin Park, Bradford Woods, Marshall and Pine. It also has two other stations in Franklin Park and in Pine.
“We are very proud of the accomplishments this organization has made,” said Marcia Caliendo, board member for the MFPAA.
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She and Dell expressed appreciation for the partnerships of each of the five municipalities.
The MFPAA is not a taxpayer-funded operation, and its operating budget is derived from billing for medical services provided, grants, annual membership subscriptions and donations. The municipalities served by the MFPAA provide financial contributions, but that does not fully cover operations and capital costs, according to the MFPAA website.
Subscriptions provide residents of the municipalities served protection from out-of-pocket expenses related to emergency medical services. Information about subscribing to the MFPAA is available at mfpaa.org.