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Citing Inadequate Staffing, Port Matilda EMS to End Service

Port Matilda EMS is "holding off" on formal closure notification.

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A Centre County emergency medical service is shutting down because of critically low staffing.

Port Matilda EMS informed the municipalities in its primary service area on Monday that it is notifying the Seven Mountains EMS Council and the state of its intent to close within the next 90 days. The agency serves Port Matilda Borough, Halfmoon, Huston, Taylor and Worth townships and parts of western Ferguson Township.

It was not immediately clear which EMS agencies would serve those areas. The closure “has been anticipated,” according to a Ferguson Township news release.

“This decision was not made easily and not without a lot of regret,” Port Matilda EMS officials wrote in a Facebook post on Monday night.

The nonprofit agency has been understaffed and will lose two key employees at the end of the year, leaving it with only two part-time employees and one volunteer.

“That’s not enough to provide an adequate level of service to our community,” according to the post.

With the dwindling staff, a shortage of of trained EMS personnel and the inability to pay competitive wages and benefits based on the service’s income from insurance billing and memberships further exacerbated the situation.

Like many similar agencies throughout region and the nation that rely on only partial reimbursements from insurance and voluntary resident subscriptions, Port Matilda EMS has long struggled to maintain operations and recruit staff. The National Rural Health Association warned in 2018 that one-third of all rural EMS agencies were in danger of shutting down.

In late 2019, Port Matilda EMS said it was “in a critical situation,” and at the time only had enough funds to cover one more payroll cycle.

It survived that thanks to memberships and donations, but the challenges persisted. For many services, the COVID-19 pandemic made a bad situation worse as call volumes and revenue dropped precipitously while EMS still needed to be prepared to respond.

Scott Rhoat, Bellefonte EMS executive director, wrote in a reply to the Port Matilda EMS post that he was “very sorry to hear of this decision,” but understood well how it had gotten to that point.

“Your organization is not the first and certainly will not be the last EMS agency to close due to inadequate financial support,” he wrote. “Your struggle to make ends meet can only stretch so far, the failure is not yours.”

Rhoat said employees and volunteers, past and present, “should be proud of the years of dedicated service given to the organization and community.”

Port Matilda EMS thanked residents for their years of support and urged them to assist the agencies that serve them in the future.

“It has truly been an honor to support this community,” they wrote.