Ambulance authority member marks 40 years
A lot of things have changed since McCandlessFranklin Park Ambulance Authority moved into a vacant gas station on Route 19 in July 1977 and began serving the communities, but Tim Butler has remained an evolving presence for the entire 40 years.
“I’ve always had a fondness for going out to help my neighbor,” he said. “That’s what kept me at it all these years.” Mr. Butler started running a basic life support ambulance as a volunteer in 1977; then became the authority’s first paid fieldperson in 1981.
The Town of McCandless council in August presented Mr. Butler with a plaque thanking him for his 40 years of service to the area.
As he presented the award, Councilman William McKim noted that Mr. Butler was the first in the authority to complete paramedic certification atUPMC Passavant Hospital.
Hebecame EMS director in 1981, assistant director in 1988 and deputy director in 2004. Mr. McKim also said that Mr. Butler is the only two-time recipient of the Allegheny County EMS outstanding boardmember service award.
Being the first to respond to accidents, natural disasters and other emergencies is in his blood. As the used van ambulances McCandless-Franklin Park first used back in in 1977 gave way to today’s advanced life support vehicles that cost well into six figures, Mr. Butler continued working his way through the field of emergency medical services from technician to paramedic. He was the authority’s first paid paramedic.
“It helps that I work for a great organization and I like going to work,” he said.
The authority now answers more than 6,000 emergency and non-emergency calls annually and provides service to Bradford Woods, Marshall and Pine, as well as McCandless and FranklinPark.
The ambulance authority’s office is on Grubbs Road near the McCandless town hall complex on land donated by the town. A substation is on Brandt School Road in FranklinPark.
“When I started running as an EMT in ‘77, I wanted to benefit my patients,” Mr. Butler said. To do so, he attended classroom training severalnights a week.
“Welearned how to run IVs by inserting the needles into ourselves and each other,” Mr.Butler said. There weren’t as many rubber dummies available back then as there are now, he said. “So we dummiesvolunteered.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Butler sufferedherniated disks in his back. Not willing to give up helping patients entirely, he earned an associate degree in electronics in 1989 just when ambulance services were moving into the electronic age.
“Graciously, they kept me on. I helped us through the computer age and other operations.” He moved from supervisor to department administrator of the ambulance authority. But he missed helping people, so occasionally he just couldn’t stay behind his desk. “I’d sneak out every chanceI could,” he said.
Nowthat the authority has expanded its services by providing wheelchair van services to hospitals and nursing homes, Mr. Butler often gets to take patients to care homes and to doctor’s offices formedical appointments.
He said he enjoys just talking with people, providing reassurance and everything in between. “I still get some kind of contact with the patients and helping people is the best part.”