Mutual Aid expanding ambulance service in Derry Township

Mutual Aid is expanding its ambulance services in Derry Township.

The Greensburg-based nonprofit ambulance provider will now serve the entire township after supervisors approved the move this week. Mutual Aid had been serving 60% of residents there.

Director of operations Lorenzo Garino said the change will take effect in early November. Any resident who purchased a membership through Citizens Ambulance, based in Indiana, will have them honored through the transition period.

“For many years, we have provided a high caliber service to approximately 60% of the the township residents,” Garino said. “We are thankful for the trust placed in us by the elected officials to now serve the entire community.”

Township Supervisor David Slifka said the board thought the move would be beneficial for residents.

“Mutual Aid approached us probably a month or two ago,” he said. “We just thought it was a win.”

Residents impacted by the change — in the northeastern part of the township near Blairsville — will be notified by mail. Garino said Mutual Aid already has two stations in the township, one on Route 217 and the second on Route 22 near New Alexandria. Derry Township is 94 square miles.

“They’re both 24/7 (advanced life service),” he said.

The move comes as municipal officials, who are responsible for emergency services, grapple with the decline of the volunteer fire services and the community-based ambulance services often launched by volunteer fire companies decades ago.

In August, Mt. Pleasant Township supervisors approved Mutual Aid to take over ambulance services in the Norvelt area. Earlier this year, Rescue 14 EMS closed and merged with Mutual Aid, which took over ambulance service in the western side of Hempfield, as well as Adamsburg and Arona boroughs. The closure made Mutual Aid the sole provider in Hempfield.

Mutual Aid provides ambulance services to nearly 200,000 residents across two-thirds of Westmoreland County and in parts of Fayette and Somerset counties.