By WTAE
PITTSBURGH —Dozens of people were treated after showing signs of heat exhaustion during a concert Tuesday night at Stage AE on the North Shore.
People at the Austin Mahone concert began falling ill a little after 8 p.m.
Emergency responders treated 38 people, eight of whom were taken to the hospital.
One of the patients, a 14-year-old girl, was taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Read more: http://www.wtae.com/news/heat-exhaustion-at-stage-ae-concert/27751474#ixzz3Bb58Xl00
By Tony LaRussa – Trib Total Media
When North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue launched a program this year to prevent problems that could lead to hospital stays, officials knew finding the money to fund it might be a problem.
Grants and insurance wouldn’t pay for such a program, which involves paramedics visiting people in their homes to conduct wellness checks.
But rather than raise money for its new Community Paramedicine program with hoagie sales, bingo or other traditional fundraisers, the paramedics decided to try something different.
Shane Spielvogle, executive director of North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue, said the department’s billing specialist, Kelly Pirl, suggested kickball.
Pirl said she learned about adult kickball through social media and signed up to play with a league that holds games in North Park.
“Some of the fire stations have golf outings as fundraisers, which is great, but not everybody plays golf,” Pirl said. “But pretty much anybody can play kickball. It’s an easy, inexpensive game and a whole lot of fun.”
By Observer-Reporter
A federal judge has given an agent with the Internal Revenue Service authorization to enter a garage of Fort Cherry Ambulance Service to seize a more than 80-year-old fire truck to satisfy more than $1.3 million in unpaid federal taxes.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon signed the order Thursday after the IRS presented probable cause that the 1931 Buffalo fire truck owned by Thomas Bruce is subject to levy by the federal government. Bruce is the owner of the ambulance service. The truck is reportedly in the ambulance service garage at 8603 Noblestown Road, Robinson Township.
Assessment of individual federal income taxes, plus penalties and interest for the years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008 were made against Bruce, 8200 Noblestown, for $1.305 million.
Documents filed in federal court indicate Bruce “neglected or refused to pay the full amount of taxes assessed with 10 days” of receiving notice and the neglect or refusal continues. Final notices of intent to levy were sent Jan. 30, 2008, and March 27, 2012.
By Chris Foreman – photo by Lillian DeDomenic / Triblive.com
Someday, Paige Reese McLaughlin is going to have a great story to tell her friends about her birthday.
After all, not everyone can lay claim to being born in an ambulance.
Penn Township Ambulance paramedics delivered the 7-pound, 3-ounce baby last week in Penn Township en route to Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville.
Paige’s parents, township residents Missy and Jonathan McLaughlin, still are getting a handle on the July 21 whirlwind experience.
“It was very surreal,” Missy McLaughlin said on Monday. “It took a couple of days to sink in that this happened to us. And, it was all natural, too.”
The second-time parents had far less time to prepare for Paige’s arrival than for their son, Jordan, 2. Missy’s labor for their first child lasted 31 hours.
Three days after her due date, Paige didn’t waste any more time in meeting her parents. The birth happened quickly after Missy’s water broke at about 7:45 or 7:50 p.m. Jonathan — who rushed home from work in Turtle Creek — found that Missy already was pushing.
At that point, the situation was urgent because Missy’s contractions sped up to be only one minute apart. Though they had been planning to give birth at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, they called for an ambulance, which headed for Forbes Regional.
By Karen Zapf – Tribune-Review
With plans for a new emergency services center solidified, Plum Emergency Medical Services and Renton Volunteer Fire Department personnel are turning their attention to the building’s interior.
The two groups have started a “Buy-A-Brick Campaign” to raise money for items they need for their new homes, including computers, phones, furniture and kitchen items.
Plum EMS deputy Director Bob Moran said bricks in two sizes — 4 inches by 8 inches for $50 and 8 inches by 8 inches for $85 — with personal messages will be sold and placed on a walkway outside the one-story building that is set to be located across Old Mine Road from the public works center.
The new building is going to be named in honor of the late Al Franci, former Plum mayor who was a proponent of a municipal ambulance service in Plum. Franci, Plum’s mayor from 1990-97, died on Nov. 22 at age 81.
The ambulance base and fire station will be separated by a wall for their separate activities.
By Tory N. Parrish – Triblive.com
In 1987, there were 136 ambulance services in Allegheny County.
Today, there are 45, said Tim Butler, deputy administrator for the McCandless-Franklin Park Ambulance Authority.
“A large part of that has to do with funding,” he said.
The McCandless-Franklin Park Ambulance Authority has started sending letters to people who haven’t paid for its services, in addition to taking unpaid cases to the magistrate, but it is finding that others still are having to pick up the slack for non-payers.
Ambulance services are struggling with insufficient Medicare reimbursements, industry leaders said. Meanwhile, private insurance companies are shifting more of the costs for transport to patients.
“Now, the co-payments are often 50 to 70 percent of the total service fee. So then the ambulance service has to go bill the patient individually. The collection rates are very poor,” said Dean Bollendorf, president of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania.
By Steve Twedt – photo by Larry Roberts / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Since the closure of UPMC Braddock hospital more than four years ago, the people of Braddock have made do with a patchwork of health care services.
There is the Braddock Family Health Center on Braddock Avenue, open weekdays during business hours by appointment only. On weekends, there is a free clinic in the Braddock Borough building, and a tour bus dental truck comes through periodically.
Local access to health care will get a big boost this fall when the Allegheny Health Network opens a new urgent care center, also centrally located on Braddock Avenue, which will operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
But one 24-7 constant through the turmoil after the hospital closure and demolition has been the local EMS service, Priority One, which has served Braddock, North Braddock, Rankin and East Pittsburgh for the past 25 years.
