Pittsburgh Review

Senate Bill 739, supported by Pennsylvania State Senator Kim L. Ward (R-Westmoreland), will provide grant money for EMS. Funds from the bill may be used for equipment purchases, building renovation or construction, debt reduction, training, recruitment or retention of personnel or revenue losses.

In addition to this funding, in January Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) appropriated $225 Million in support of health care workers.

“This week, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 739, which will provide $25 million in grant funding to ambulance services” Senator Kim L. Ward said in a post to her official Twitter account on February 12.

Other legislators noted the importance of the funding as well.

“This historic infusion of funding is monumental for our EMS community" Senator Pat Stefano (R-32) said. 

Local officials also spoke out in praise of the funding. 

“Hampden Township EMS is under the same constraints as EMS providers across the commonwealth and these funds will be extremely benefit to ensuring that we continue to provide the needed coverage to our community" Nathan Silcox, president of the Hampden Township commissioners, said. 

All of this funding is a continuation of House Bill 253. In February Governor Wolf signed Senate Bill 739, which approves $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to improve Pennsylvania’s emergency management services (EMS) companies. This funding comes in the form of money that can be utilized for buying new equipment, renovating or building new buildings, reducing debt, training new employees, recruiting or retaining new or existing personnel and reducing revenue losses.        

Ultimately, all of this means that more money will be available to emergency services in Pennsylvania.  Support for the funding bill was unanimous in the legislature and it is hoped that it will counteract against losses accrued due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic of the last two years.