When the Penn Township Ambulance service started a half century ago, resources were tight.

There wasn’t an office for the first two volunteers or a garage for the ambulance.

“In the winter weather, someone had to get out there and start (the ambulance) to make sure the battery made it through the night in the cold,” said Edgar Grant, director of operations for the rescue service. “They had to hope that it would turn over.”

The service has come a long way since that first winter. In 1974, a garage was built, and the association kept growing and adapting as state laws changed and the Penn Township area grew. The nonprofit headquartered at 1030 Sandy Hill Road will mark its 50th anniversary Tuesday, not with a large public event but with the kickoff of its 2023 State of Readiness fundraising campaign.

“Around the same time that the community was transforming, from more rural to more of a suburb, and becoming a part of the eastern Pittsburgh landscape, the state began to change the rules and regulations for ambulance services,” Grant said.

Those changes would transform the mostly volunteer organizations to paid emergency medical services that provide lifesaving treatment.

Grant, an employee for 33 years, said he is proud of the way Penn Township Ambulance has kept up with the technology and the move to have professional medical personnel on the staff.

Though staffing can be an issue in the industry, Grant said, outreach programs and apprenticeships for high school students help.

Nathan Good, a senior at Penn-Trafford High School, is a part of the apprenticeship program.

“I love it. I want to help because my family has always been involved in the community,” Good said. “This lets me help now and learn.”

The nonprofit is the exclusive emergency medical service provider for Penn Township and Manor, Trafford and Penn boroughs, along with 11 miles of the turnpike.

Only about 10% of the ambulance service’s annual budget is covered by local government contributions, and insurance plans vary on what portion of patient bills they will cover, making fundraising and community support important to pay the salaries of the 12 full-time and 12 part-time employees and to fuel and maintain the three transport units.

In addition to the ambulances, there is a technical rescue unit that can provide ice rescues, help in swiftwater incidents and other risky situations. The service also provides CPR training, locomotive rail line safety training and child car seat fittings.

Bobby Scott has been with the service for seven years and has moved from an emergency medical technician to paramedic, having just finished his nine-month training program. The transition was difficult because of the time involved, he said, but he is glad he did it.

“I wanted to do more for the patients. I’ve learned a lot of new skills, and there is more I can perform to help the community,” Scott said.

That is what still drives Grant, as well.

“The greatest feeling is knowing I may be able to be useful in the worst moment of someone else’s life,” Grant said.

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