St. Marys Ambulance dedicates station’s training room

ST. MARYS - Recently the St. Marys Area Ambulance Service dedicated its training room to Jim Constanzo, original founder of the ambulance service 50 years ago. In attendance at the dedication was Brad Meholic, grandson of Constanzo and current St. Marys Ambulance board member who was presented a plaque by Rodney Brennen, board president, Greg Gebauer, ambulance service manager and Nick Burdick, assistant manager. According to Gebauer, the room is used for many purposes such as staff training, community classes including first aid and CPR, training with fellow EMS providers and continuing education endeavors. The training room was part of the plan when the ambulance station was constructed in 1995 on the Penn Highlands Elk campus situated along the Johnsonburg Road. Previously the station was located on the corner of Parkway and Erich roads. The non-profit service eventually outgrew the old station as it was a threestall building and with five ambulances, some had to be parked outside. Currently the St. Marys Ambulance fleet consists of six units including five ambulances and one interceptor unit, used to transport a medic and their equipment to a scene when additional assistance is needed. The St. Marys Ambulance service has a staff of 42 full and part-time employees. The ambulance service, like many throughout the state and nation, welcome any new employees. The staff includes both Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and paramedics. The station is staffed at all times by two crews each consisting of a paramedic and EMT. Additionally the manager and assistant manager are the only salaried positions with all other employees paid an hourly rate. The current staff of the St. Marys Area Ambulance Service includes: Kelly Haumesser, Ron Fingado, Brian Feronti, Kevin Hanes, Jacob Kline, Brian Gallagher, Bob Bauer, John Lilja, Faisal El Awar, Tait Bish, Sam Olivett, Angela Hoffman, Matthew Wachob, Lucas Schreiber, Reshawn Shipe, John Simbeck, Scott Wachob, Ken Weidow, Gary Rigard, Laura Wall, Jackie FinGado, Larry Shipe, Joe Kerchinski, Cathy Zimmerman, Jerry Zimmerman, Stephanie Buzard, Shane Buzard, Keith Washburn, Dave Zilkofski, Jamie Gillen, Bill Pennington, Jonathan Suarez, Greg Gebauer, Keith Vanhorn, Breanna Chilcote, Kirk Orton, Rob Hammerly, Derick Nowacki, Tom Tomaski, Marty Kim, Mark Badtorff, Bill Wallace, Tonyia Wennin, Jeff Reeser and Nick Burdick.