Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation to host memorial bike ride and memorial service

The Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation (Foundation) is hosting the 12th annual PA EMS Memorial Service in the East Wing Rotunda of the Capitol Building on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, beginning at 11 a.m.

The 7th annual PA EMS Memorial Bike Ride begins in Willow Grove on September 9, 2022, at 8 a.m. and concludes at the Capitol for the EMS Memorial Service. The bicycle riders honor the memory of Pennsylvania EMS brothers and sisters lost in the line of duty.

The kickoff ceremony for the bike ride begins with a short memorial service at Second Alarmers Rescue Squad (307 Dansville Rd, Willow Grove, 19090). Cyclists then pedal through 150 miles of beautiful rural Pennsylvania vistas making their way to the Capitol.

“We share a solemn obligation to honor and remember our Pennsylvania EMS providers who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty serving the residents of this Commonwealth,” said Doug Garretson, Chair of the Foundation. “Our EMS providers are often overlooked in our dayto-day lives despite constant requests for their service. They tend to work long hours punctuated with moments of intense stress, often for sub-par wages. While not often thought of as a dangerous profession, PA has experienced far too many line of duty EMS deaths, not to mention the silent loss of providers to post traumatic stress and suicide. COVID only exacerbated the painful dilemmas of an already stressful profession.”

EMS agencies, legislators and colleagues from across the Commonwealth will come together to honor and remember the EMS providers who have been lost in the line of duty.

Confirmed speakers participating in the Memorial Service at the Capitol include:

• Representative Frank Farry, 142nd District and Chair of House Human Services Committee

• Representative Chris Sainato, 9th District and Minority Chair of House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee

• Senator Katie Muth, Berks, 44th District and Minority Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Preparedness Committee

• Charles McGarvey, Acting Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner

• Aaron Rhone, Director, Bureau of EMS, Department of Health

• Doug Garretson, Chair, Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation

Members of the press are invited and encouraged to attend – in Harrisburg and in Willow Grove. If you would like any additional information on this event, please contact AAP Executive Director, Heather Sharar at 717-512-5609 or executivedirector@aa-pa.org.