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40-642: P.O. Box 580 McKeesport, PA 15134 1604 Evans Avenue McKeesport, PA 15132 Phone: (412) 675-5076 Fax: (412) 675-5072 1204 Washington Boulevard McKeesport, PA, 15133 The agency executive is William Miller, who holds the titles of Executive Director and Chief. Regular daily staffing calls for 3 Advanced Life Support Ambulances 24/7. In house billing and office duties are handled by an office manager. MARS staffing currently includes 1 Chief, 2 Lieutenants, 1 Billing Manager and approximately 13 full time and 15 part time/casual Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians as well as full time 2 Wheelchair Van Drivers. Each shift has

80-470: A natural disaster that threatens many lives), many smaller incidents require that an observer (or affected party) decide whether it qualifies as an emergency. The precise definition of an emergency, the agencies involved and the procedures used, vary by jurisdiction, and this is usually set by the government , whose agencies ( emergency services ) are responsible for emergency planning and management. An incident, to be an emergency, conforms to one or more of

120-465: A Lifepack 15 monitor, Portable Suction Unit, Oxygen Bag, Medical Bag, Drug Box, Pet Oxygen Masks, Personal Flotation Devices, Body Armor, Stryker/Ferno Stretchers, Stryker/Ferno stairchairs with tracks, Region 13 MCI bag with SMART triage system, and Helmets along with other miscellaneous medical supplies and equipment meeting the PA Department of Health requirements for ALS ambulances. In 2019 MARS added

160-474: A Lucas mechanical CPR device to its inventory. Billing is handled in house by the department billing manager and Ambulance Billing Solutions in McKeesport. Several agencies can be dispatched to assist MARS with calls or in place of MARS in the event that all units are already on other calls. Primary mutual aid services include Southeast Regional, Baldwin, Munhall, and White Oak. The UPMC Prehospital Response Unit

200-451: A cost for the service. An example would be an emergency plumber. Emergency action principles are key 'rules' that guide the actions of rescuers and potential rescuers. Because of the inherent nature of emergencies, no two are likely to be the same, so emergency action principles help to guide rescuers at incidents, by sticking to some basic tenets. The adherence to (and contents of) the principles by would-be rescuers varies widely based on

240-482: A country), but in most cases, they are in a short number format, such as 911 (United States and many parts of Canada), 999 (United Kingdom), 112 (Europe) and 000 (Australia). To simplify the summoning of emergency services, EmerGa, a French first aid association recognized as being of public interest, is developing e-mergency in 2024. This mobile application offers quick access to emergency services worldwide through an intuitive visual interface, eliminating

280-443: A designated Crew Chief responsible for handling day-to-day operations. MARS does not currently utilize Emergency Medical Responder, Emergency Medical Technician Advanced, or Prehospital Registered Nurse certified personnel. EMS crews are scheduled 24 hour shifts. McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service provides 911 dispatched emergency medical care and non-emergency transport services as well as wheelchair van transports, under contract, to

320-418: A disaster. Following an emergency occurring, the agencies then move to a response phase, where they execute their plans, and may end up improvising some areas of their response (due to gaps in the planning phase, which are inevitable due to the individual nature of most incidents). Agencies may then be involved in recovery following the incident, where they assist in the clear up from the incident, or help

360-561: A formal standing agreement for cooperative emergency management on a continuing basis, such as ensuring that resources are dispatched from the nearest fire station , regardless of which side of the jurisdictional boundary the incident is on. Agreements that send closest resources are regularly referred to as "automatic aid agreements". Mutual aid may also extend beyond local response. Several states have statewide mutual aid systems. Examples include Washington and Oregon statewide mobilization programs. MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System)

400-406: A landing zone in McKeesport to McKeesport Hospital and back to the landing zone to STAT MedEvac. Rescue services are provided by the fire departments in each community. The agency operates a fleet of five Ford/Chevy ambulances two type 2 ambulances and three type 3 ambulances, one squad a Ford Explorer, and two Ford wheelchair vans from its headquarters facility on Evans Avenue in McKeesport, and

440-679: A large potential to cause danger to life, health and property if there is an infrastructure failure. Generally perceived as pay per use emergency services, domestic emergency services are small, medium or large businesses who tend to emergencies within the boundaries of licensing or capabilities. These tend to consist of emergencies where health or property is perceived to be at risk but may not qualify for official emergency response. Domestic emergency services are in principle similar to civil emergency services where public or private utility workers will perform corrective repairs to essential services and avail their service at all times; however, these are at

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480-588: A response). Some services have a fourth category, where they believe that no response is required after clinical questions are asked. Another system for prioritizing medical calls is known as Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD). Jurisdictions that use EMD typically assign a code of "alpha" (low priority), "bravo" (medium priority), "charlie" (requiring advanced life support ), delta (high priority, requiring advanced life support ) or "echo" (maximum possible priority, e.g., witnessed cardiac arrests) to each inbound request for service; these codes are then used to determine

520-592: A sub-classification to the emergency, prioritising incidents that have the most potential for risk to life, health or property (in that order). For instance, many ambulance services use a system called the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (AMPDS) or a similar solution. The AMPDS categorises all calls to the ambulance service using it as either 'A' category (immediately life-threatening), 'B' Category (immediately health threatening) or 'C' category (non-emergency call that still requires

560-715: A sub-station on Washington Avenue in Port Vue which is owned by the borough. During daylight hours one ambulance is staffed at the Glassport Fire Station on Allegheny Avenue. Past apparatus included a Jeep Cherokee, a light duty rescue which was used for rehab, MCIs, and Quick Response, and assorted Ford/Chevy type 1, 2, and 3 ambulances. McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service is dispatched by the Allegheny County Emergency Services located in Moon Township on

600-628: Is a regional mutual aid system, headquartered in Illinois, with 1500 member fire departments in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri. Utility companies usually also have mutual aid agreements. Large municipalities typically have enough fire and emergency medical services resources to handle large local incidents. However, in the case of multiple alarm fires , mass casualty incidents (MCIs) or large-scale hazardous material ( hazmat ) incidents, that municipality may call in resources from surrounding towns to either respond directly to

640-440: Is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health , life , property , or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation, although in some situations, mitigation may not be possible and agencies may only be able to offer palliative care for the aftermath. While some emergencies are self-evident (such as

680-466: Is automatically dispatched on all E-0 calls (Life threatening). Mutual aid (emergency services) In emergency services , mutual aid is an agreement among emergency responders to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries . This may occur due to an emergency response that exceeds local resources, such as a disaster or a multiple-alarm fire . Mutual aid may be ad hoc , requested only when such an emergency occurs. It may also be

720-655: Is essential." Whilst most emergency services agree on protecting human health, life and property, the environmental impacts are not considered sufficiently important by some agencies . This also extends to areas such as animal welfare , where some emergency organizations cover this element through the "property" definition, where animals owned by a person are threatened (although this does not cover wild animals). This means that some agencies do not mount an "emergency" response where it endangers wild animals or environment , though others respond to such incidents (such as oil spills at sea that threaten marine life). The attitude of

760-424: Is likely to define whether the incident qualifies as an emergency, and consequently if it warrants an emergency response. Some agencies may still respond to non-emergency calls, depending on their remit and availability of resource. An example of this would be a fire department responding to help retrieve a cat from a tree, where no life, health or property is immediately at risk. Following this, many agencies assign

800-479: Is that it is core to emergency management that rescuers do not become secondary victims of any incident, as this creates a further emergency that must be dealt with. A typical assessment for danger would involve observation of the surroundings , starting with the cause of the accident (e.g. a falling object) and expanding outwards to include any situational hazards (e.g. fast moving traffic) and history or secondary information given by witnesses , bystanders or

840-485: The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) or Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) help in large emergencies such as a disaster or major civil unrest. Most countries have an emergency telephone number , also known as the universal emergency number, which can be used to summon the emergency services to any incident. This number varies from country to country (and in some cases by region within

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880-403: The training the people involved in emergency have received, the support available from emergency services (and the time it takes to arrive) and the emergency itself. The key principle taught in almost all systems is that the rescuer , whether a lay person or a professional , should assess the situation for danger . The reason that an assessment for danger is given such high priority

920-561: The East EMS frequency.MARS crews utilize Minitor 5 alerting devices at the Evans Avenue and Port Vue stations. A base radio is located at the main station on Evans. Mobile radios are in all response vehicles and all on duty crew members carry Kenwood portable radios. Crew members also utilize Active911 on their cell phones to receive calls. Some of the ambulances are equipped with Computer Aided Dispatch computers which will display information about

960-619: The agencies involved is likely to reflect the predominant opinion of the government of the area. Many emergencies cause an immediate danger to the life of people involved. This can range from emergencies affecting a single person, such as the entire range of medical emergencies including heart attacks , strokes , cardiac arrest and trauma , to incidents that affect large numbers of people such as natural disasters including tornadoes , hurricanes , floods , earthquakes , mudslides and outbreaks of diseases such as coronavirus , cholera , Ebola , and malaria . Most agencies consider these

1000-439: The appropriate level of response. Other systems (especially as regards major incidents ) use objective measures to direct resource. Two such systems are SAD CHALET and ETHANE , which are both mnemonics to help emergency services staff classify incidents, and direct resource. Each of these acronyms helps ascertain the number of casualties (usually including the number of dead and number of non-injured people involved), how

1040-417: The assistance from funds raised from donations . Most developed countries operate three core emergency services : There may also be a number of specialized emergency services, which may be a part of one of the core agencies, or may be separate entities who assist the main agencies. This can include services, such as bomb disposal , search and rescue , and hazardous material operations. The Military and

1080-474: The call. Communications for medical command are done via phone or on radio at 155.340Mhz. MARS personnel requiring continuing education to maintain their certification utilize the Train PA website to complete online courses. Courses are also offered in house at local hospitals and other fire/EMS departments in the region. There is currently no in-house training offered. Equipment utilized on each ambulance includes

1120-500: The case of larger incidents, surrounding municipalities will be called in along with the local resources upon initial dispatch. For instance, local fire and EMS departments will typically handle fire alarm activations and automobile crashes while reports of structure fires will cause the automatic dispatch (automatic aid) of surrounding towns. Where a town has no resources of its own, it may contract with one or more surrounding towns to provide all coverage. Such calls for mutual aid are

1160-520: The causes of an emergency threatening to life, which includes medical emergencies and natural disasters, although the range of incidents that can be categorized here is far greater than those that cause a danger to life (such as broken limbs, which do not usually cause death, but immediate intervention is required if the person is to recover properly). Many life emergencies, such as cardiac arrest, are also health emergencies. Some emergencies do not immediately endanger life, health or property, but do affect

1200-406: The emergency services (e.g. an attacker still waiting nearby). Once a primary danger assessment has been completed, this should not end the system of checking for danger, but should inform all other parts of the process. If at any time the risk from any hazard poses a significant danger (as a factor of likelihood and seriousness) to the rescuer, they should consider whether they should approach

1240-601: The following municipalities; MARS also provides mutual aid to neighboring municipalities of Versailles Borough, White Oak, North Versailles, Munhall, Rankin, Clairton, Elizabeth Township, City of Pittsburgh. MARS is part of the Allegheny County Mass Casualty Response plan. MARS also provides coverage to mass-gathering events such as football standbys and International Village, as well as CPR , Stop The Bleed education and community influenza vaccinations . MARS also provides ground transport services from

McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-480: The following, if it: In the United States, most states mandate that a notice be printed in each telephone book that requires that someone must relinquish use of a phone line, if a person requests the use of a telephone line (such as a party line ) to report an emergency. State statutes typically define an emergency as, "...a condition where life, health, or property is in jeopardy, and the prompt summoning of aid

1320-431: The highest priority emergency, which follows the general school of thought that nothing is more important than human life. Some emergencies are not necessarily immediately threatening to life, but might have serious implications for the continued health and well-being of a person or persons (though a health emergency can subsequently escalate to life-threatening). The causes of a health emergency are often very similar to

1360-461: The incident has occurred, and what emergency services are required. Most developed countries have a number of emergency services operating within them, whose purpose is to provide assistance in dealing with any emergency. They are often government operated, paid for from tax revenue as a public service, but in some cases, they may be private companies, responding to emergencies in return for payment, or they may be voluntary organisations, providing

1400-527: The incident scene or take up quarters in their fire and EMS stations and respond to other incidents in that city or town when local crews are handling a protracted incident. Additionally, if one municipality's resources are on active calls and unable to respond to a concurrent call for service, a neighboring municipality may be dispatched. Other agreements are common in small towns that have either no resources or limited resources. In these cases, local crews are capable of handling small incidents themselves, but in

1440-488: The natural environment and creatures living within it. Not all agencies consider this a genuine emergency, but it can have far-reaching effects on animals and the long term condition of the land. Examples would include forest fires and marine oil spills . Agencies across the world have different systems for classifying incidents, but all of them serve to help them allocate finite resource, by prioritising between different emergencies. The first stage of any classification

1480-634: The need to memorize different emergency numbers. The majority of mobile phones also dial the emergency services, even if the phone keyboard is locked, or if the phone has an expired or missing SIM card , although the provision of this service varies by country and network. In addition to those services provided specifically for emergencies, there may be a number of agencies who provide an emergency service as an incidental part of their normal 'day job' provision. This can include public utility workers, such as in provision of electricity or gas , who may be required to respond quickly, as both utilities have

1520-435: The people involved overcome their mental trauma. The final phase in the circle is mitigation , which involves taking steps to ensure no re-occurrence is possible, or putting additional plans in place to ensure less damage is done. This should feed back into the preparedness stage, with updated plans in place to deal with future emergencies, thus completing the circle. In the event of a major incident, such as civil unrest or

1560-421: The results of incident escalations as determined by the incident commander. The responses required from other towns are predefined, so all a dispatcher has to do is call the appropriate resources as determined by the "run card" for such an incident. International mutual aid is also common on border communities in places such as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and others. Emergency An emergency

1600-638: The scene (or leave the scene if appropriate). There are many emergency services protocols that apply in an emergency, which usually start with planning before an emergency occurs. One commonly used system for demonstrating the phases is shown here on the right. The planning phase starts at preparedness , where the agencies decide how to respond to a given incident or set of circumstances. This should ideally include lines of command and control, and division of activities between agencies. This avoids potentially negative situations such as three separate agencies all starting an official emergency shelter for victims of

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