Bucks County Officials Show Off Emergency Medical Equipment

The various pieces of training and mobile medical equipment on display last Friday aren’t always used, but they sure are important when there is an emergency.

From pods filled with triage kits and cots to a training ambulance, Bucks County emergency officials showed off their equipment to Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Health Planning and Assessment Deputy Secretary Raphael Barishansky. The tour came just a month or two after it was proposed that the Bucks County Emergency Health Service Office which coordinates emergency medicine and response be merged with nearby counties.

Thanks to a solid case, and strong testimony from Bucks County first responders and lobbying of lawmakers, the plan was scrapped and Bucks County will keep its office. In March, officials from the Bensalem Rescue Squad, Bucks County Rescue Squad, Central Bucks EMS, Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad, Newtown Ambulance, Tri-Hampton Rescue Squad, Upper Bucks Regional EMS, Warminster Volunteer Ambulance, and Warrington Community Ambulance all attended hearings on the topic in Harrisburg.

Dr. Jerry Wydro, the medical director for Bucks County Regional EMS, said a merger of the Bucks County Emergency Health Service Office would have been detrimental to local first responders.

Barishansky made a stop in Doylestown, the county emergency complex in Ivyland before finishing up with the equipment review at facility the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company and Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad share on Langhorne-Yardley Road in Middletown.

Local emergency officials showed off their response trailers and mobile training unit to Barishansky. County spokesman Chris Edwards said some of the units have been deployed in other parts of the country during hurricanes and other disasters.

Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company Chief Frank Farry said tools and training provided by the Bucks County Emergency Health Service Office help area residents each and every day. At the time the merger was being talked about, Farry explained that the office had pushed for new techniques that give first responders the ability to provide great life-saving care to cardiac arrest victims.