Advanced life support ambulance brings mobile hospital-level care to Pittsburgh area

Thanks to a partnership with Northwest EMS, an advanced life support ambulance is based at the Oakdale fire station, bringing hospital-level care to parts of Allegheny County. 

In a medical emergency, the clock is unforgiving. For patients in cardiac arrest, severe trauma, or respiratory distress, delays can cost lives and those first moments can determine the outcome long before a hospital is ever reached. 

"You're talking about going from minimal care to a very advanced level of care, potentially within a few minutes if not sooner," Oakdale Hose Company Chief Jim Snatchko.

An advanced life support ambulance isn't a basic ambulance. Inside the unit are advanced cardiac monitors, life-saving medications, airway equipment, and the ability to treat cardiac arrests, severe trauma, and breathing emergencies on scene. It's care that used to start at the hospital that can now begin at the patient's side. 

And when every second counts, having that care already in place makes all the difference. 

"One of our stations is in North Fayette. We can probably get here in seven minutes, but if I'm here right now, we can get there in one," Lt. Mikayla Jordan of Northwest EMS said.

For Oakdale, this partnership with Northwest EMS isn't just about adding an ambulance. It has everything to do with making sure the community has the level of care it deserves. 

The unit is already responding to calls. It is staffed 12 hours a day every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.