RWNES to begin ambulance service in Donora on Aug. 1

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com

Rostraver West Newton Emergency Services will begin covering Donora Borough officially on Aug. 1.
Mike Stangroom, RWNES director of operations, met with council Wednesday night to address some concerns and talk logistics.
RWNES is going to staff a substation in the borough for 10 hours a day, seven days a week. The service will be based out of the former Donora Chamber of Commerce building on McKean Avenue.
The ambulance will be parked either on the street outside or in the parking lot next to the building, Stangroom said.
Staffing the substation for 70 hours a week will be an investment of about $200,000 into the borough annually, Stangroom said.
He plans to talk to Donora police Superintendent Jim Brice and fire Chief Patsy Vince about call volume to determine when those 10 hours should be during the days. Right now, at least to start, Stangroom said he’ll likely start with a 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift or something similar.
Mon Valley Emergency Medical Services, the borough’s current provider, recently sent out subscription drive notices. Anyone who already returned their subscription payments will not have to worry about the new ambulance service in town as Stangroom said RWNES plans to honor the Mon Valley EMS subscription as if it were a subscription to RWNES.
Because RWNES does its subscription drive in February, anyone in Donora who would like to get a subscription with the borough’s new service can get a prorated rate of $30 for a family, which will carry them through to the next drive.
When the time comes to renew at a full subscription rate, it will cost $65 for a family plan.
Mayor Jim McDonough asked Stangroom about his response times because the borough’s unhappiness with recent response times from Mon Valley EMS is what led council to switch to RWNES.
“My average response time is well under 10 minutes, well under,” Stangroom said, adding that includes all the municipalities RWNES covers.
Another issue council wanted to tackle was what ambulance service would be called out to respond to Donora if all RWNES units are busy and there is an emergency in the borough. Council had some concerns about the distance ambulances had to travel based on what services were next on Mon Valley EMS’ list for 911 to contact when they were busy.
“I will not play games with any of your residents’ lives,” Stangroom said. “We’re going to utilize the closest available geographically. We don’t play games. I don’t care who I’m friends with, we use the closest available.”
Stangroom said he wouldn’t lie to council, there might be a time when there are so many calls at once, there might be a 20-minute response time, “but, that’s what you’ve been seeing on a regular basis.”
In addition to being ready to go Aug. 1, Stangroom said RWNES often offers CPR and first aid classes in the communities it covers and would be glad to start offering such outreach in Donora. He also told council he would like the borough to occupy a seat on the RWNES board of directors, to be part of the service.
Stangroom said he’d like to meet again with council and put together some joint information to get out to the community and make sure residents are all on the same page.
For more information about Rostraver West Newton Emergency Services, visit www.rwnes.org or call the business office at 724-929-9116 to discuss subscription questions.