Tag: EmergyCare

EmergyCare in 2020

Written by AAA Staff on . Posted in Yearbook.

EmergyCare
Erie, Pennsylvania
280 Staff | 16 Quarantined in 2020

EmergyCare is one of the largest non-profit ambulance services in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, covering more than 2,100 square miles and protecting approximately 300,000 lives The service lines that EmergyCare provides include Emergency and Non-Emergency medical transportation at the Basic / Advanced / Critical Care Life Support levels, inter-agency paramedic intercept response, paratransit (wheelchair) / medical taxi transport solutions, tactical paramedic / SWAT Team integration, and community outreach which includes educational safety programs. The operations team consists of approximately 230 wheelchair transporters, EMTs, PHRNs and Paramedics, and a fleet of 70 vehicles including 33 ambulances stationed in Corry, Erie, Titusville, Warren, and Kane, PA. Organization-wide, EmergyCare runs approximately 65,000 transports annually. EmergyCare’s Critical Care Transport Team brings the hospital ICU to the bedside of the patient. EmergyCare’s Tactical Medic Team integrates with local law enforcement agencies to provide critical medical coverage in high-risk law enforcement situations.

Quickly after COVID-19 became an issue in Western PA, EmergyCare was identified as a hospital surge resource, was identified and authorized to be Novel Disease Transport Team utilizing PAPR respirators, and received authorization from the PADOH to use novel disease transport equipment for long-distance COVID patients. Our organization stepped up our efforts to mitigate the impact on our staff and patients. Through grants, we secured funding to purchase ozone foggers to decontaminate our vehicles for each of our stations. We were able to work with local organizations to secure additional PPE. Our Administrative and Clinical staff were segregated to mitigate the potential spread of the virus and we instituted remote work where possible. As the provider of EMS education, our EMT and Paramedic classes were quickly transferred to remote virtual learning.

As Pennsylvania was considered one of the Presidential Election key swing states, EmergyCare EMS and Tactical Medical Team was called upon several times over the course of the campaign to provide services for both presidential campaigns by the Secret Service.

40 Under 40: David Basnak (EmergyCare – Fairview, PA)

Written by American Ambulance Association on . Posted in 40 Under 40.

40 Under 40 nominees were selected based on their contributions to the American Ambulance Association, their employer, state ambulance association, other professional associations, and/or the EMS profession.
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David Basnak
Operations Manager
EmergyCare
Fairview, PA

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LinkedIn
Nominated by: Karen Jakiel (EmergyCare – Erie, PA)
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Biography:

David Basnak started his emergency services career when he was sixteen years old at his local fire department in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. While a Senior in high school, David attended a locally hosted EMT class. After graduating from high school, David worked locally in Greenville, Pennsylvania as an EMT and attended Penn State University (PSU) pursuing a degree in information, science, and technology. As David’s interest in the EMS field continued to grow, he decided to attend a local Paramedic program. For fourteen months, David attended both PSU and the Paramedic program through Butler County Community College, completing both programs. After gaining experience as a Field Paramedic, David worked to continue to pursue his EMS career through various leadership positions. Over his career, David has held the titles of Continuous Quality Improvement Coordinator, Personnel Director, EMS Specialist, Senior Manager of Pre-hospital Care, and most recently Operations Manager. Currently, David oversees all field operations for EmergyCare, one of the largest non-profit EMS organizations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. EmergyCare, located in Erie, Pennsylvania, provides mobile health care to seven counties in Northwestern Pennsylvania. David holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from American Military University, is a Certified Medical Transport Executive through the Medical Transport Leadership Institute, Board Certified Emergency Manager through The International Association of Emergency Managers, and holds his Flight Paramedic Certification through the International Board of Specialty Certification. David’s current role has him on an Executive leadership track to continue his professional organizational development at EmergyCare.

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Reason for Nomination:

David Basnak should be recognized as one of the American Ambulance Association’s Forty Under 40 as he has demonstrated excellence and great promise throughout his career in pre-hospital medicine and Emergency Medical Services. David is recognized as a leader throughout Northwestern Pennsylvania and is respected by his colleagues not only in the EMS field but also clinicians in our regional health care facilities.

In his short tenure at EmergyCare, David’s leadership, guidance, and expertise has assisted EmergyCare in recruiting and retaining EMS providers (currently at 95% staffing). David has helped to redesign our new staff orientation and on boarding and he continuously leads by example by regularly jumping on a truck and answering calls with the crews.

David’s constant thirst for learning has made him a great resource for staff and our organization’s leadership. David is always willing to go above and beyond for the mission of EmergyCare. Furthermore, David is a servant leader. David puts the EmergyCare team first, by focusing on the needs of team members, acknowledging their perspectives, and giving them the support they need to be the best they can be. David involves staff in decision making when appropriate and has built a stronger sense of community among the staff.

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View all of the 2020 Mobile Healthcare 40 Under 40 Honorees

2016 AMBY Best Employee Program: EmergyCare, EMS Academy

Written by AAA Staff on . Posted in AMBY, Awards, Employee Program.

Congratulations to the 2016 AMBY Award Winners

Each year, the American Ambulance Association honors best practices, ingenuity, and innovation from EMS providers across the country with our AMBY Awards. 

EmergyCare’s EMS Academy Awarded the 2016 AMBY for Best Employee Programamby-congrats-emergycare

EmergyCare | Erie, PA

In order to combat the nationwide EMS recruitment and retention crisis, EmergyCare has developed its very own EMS Academy. Recent changes to regulations have increased the amount of hours required for EMT and paramedic training, making it more expensive thus, causing more candidates to balk at completing training.  EmergyCare realized that in order to continue to grow and thrive as an organization, that it had to get out in front of the hiring crisis.

Until recently, EmergyCare and other educational institutions held EMT and Paramedic training courses on a regular basis, keeping the pool of potential clinical employees at a reasonable level. In 2010 Pennsylvania’s Department of Health Bureau of EMS decided to no longer provide testing for Paramedics due to the high cost of keeping updated tests. Instead, the Bureau decided to make National Registry testing the only viable option. In order to provide this level of testing, all paramedic programs had to be licensed and approved by the NREMT, something that required programs to be affiliated with a college or university. These requirements elongated the paramedic program due to college level prerequisite courses, and substantially increased costs, discouraging applicants.

EmergyCare’s new EMS Academy pays employees and new hires a salary while they are training so they can support their families, while providing them with an education that turn into a professional career. Before implementing their new EMS Academy, EmergyCare surveyed staff to gauge interest in such a program and the results were overwhelmingly positive.

Prior to implementing their EMS Academy, EmergyCare’s employee turnover was already extremely low – 10% compared to the industry average of 30%. That being said, EmergyCare realized that the shortage of EMTs and paramedics were a serious threat to the service’s long term financial health. EmergyCare experiences about a 2% growth in call volume annually, and in order to keep up with this growth, realized that it needed to take action to address the EMT and Paramedic shortage.

EmergyCare’s goal was to have was to have 70% of new students certified to work as replacement staff for the current EmergyCare EMTs so that they can attend paramedic training. The Academy program would also expect to have 70% of the initial students certified to work at EmergyCare as full-time paramedics. In addition to hiring and training new employees, EmergyCare’s EMS Academy is allowing current employees to seek additional education. The previous year’s Academy Paramedics help offset EmergyCare’s current shortage of paramedics, enhancing employee morale by balancing current workloads, allowing operational staff to go off duty on time, and decreasing overtime due to having additional paramedics to assist with coverage for vacations, injuries, illness, and additional turnover.

EmergyCare has seen an immediate return on investment from its EMS Academy. Since implementation, the EMS Academy has already seen the following improvements:

  • Decreased staffing shortage by 85 – 90%
  • Balanced workload of current employees
  • Decreased “Turned Calls” by 50%
  • Decreased overtime expenses

Addressing the EMT and Paramedic shortage within the EMS industry has allowed EmergyCare to continue to grow and improve employee morale and retention. The EMS Academy will continue to focus on meeting current staffing needs for EmergyCare as well as provide and market the only alternative Paramedic training program for Northwest Pennsylvania.

Congratulations to the entire EmergyCare Team for your EMS Academy’s selection as the 2016 AMBY Winner for Best Employee Program.

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