And a valuable part at that, the retirement community’s top administrator Nelson Kling also says, because they provide quicker emergency response and overall make for “a good fit for all of us.”

	Nelson Kling (left) of Woodcrest Villa and Michael Fitzgibbons of Susquehanna Valley EMS stand with the emergency vehicle at the retirement community.

In a move that’s believed to be the first such arrangement in Lancaster County between a retirement community and an emergency service, Woodcrest Villa has started hosting an onsite substation of the Susquehanna Valley Emergency Medical Service.

As people age, there’s always going to be more of a chance they might need an ambulance, so for Woodcrest, having one right there for the community’s 500-plus residents means major peace of mind, King says.

And for the EMS, it fills what had become “a big empty hole in the middle of our coverage area,” its executive director, Mike Fitzgibbons, says.

The substation is in a garage at the rear of the welcome center on the retirement home’s Harrisburg Pike campus. The substation is staffed around the clock with a paramedic and an emergency medical technician.

Fitzgibbons says his agency’s overall call volume has gone up in its coverage area, and opening the new substation made sense.

Its Rohrerstown station is easily its busiest. So if an ambulance from there is out on a call and temporarily out of service, and someone from Woodcrest or the nearby area needs an ambulance, now there’s one right there, ready to go.

The new substation, which opened around the start of the year, has been averaging six calls a day, although not all of them from Woodcrest.

And there are other benefits.
The EMS crews are “in front of our residents, so they become part of things – it becomes almost seamless,” Kling says.

“Plus, it kind of takes away some of the mystery of who they are, the ‘Do-they-work-here?’ thing, since they’re just over in the next building.”

Fitzgibbons says his department tries as much as possible to have the same people working shifts at the Woodcrest Villa substation so residents can get familiar with them.
For Kling, who oversees Woodcrest Villa and the adjoining Mennonite Home, providing the highest level of emergency care is critical.

“It’s really a great thing for us. Plus, it’s a good marketing effort, any time you can add a service like that, it’s a big plus” to offer prospective residents.

Woodcrest and the EMS first discussed the idea of the substation two years ago, and briefly considered placing it at the Mennonite Home across Harrisburg Pike, but there wasn’t enough space.

But when maintenance and storage areas were added in the latest stage of development at Woodcrest, that provided enough room for an ambulance and substation. Kling and Fitzgibbons then got the approval from their respective boards of directors.

Susquehanna Valley EMS, which handles some 6,000 calls a year, covers the western portion of Lancaster County.

Along with the new Woodcrest Villa substation, it has facilities in Rohrerstown, Mount Joy and Columbia, and one next to the Hempfield Fire Department.

Add Fitzgibbons, “The fact of the matter is, everybody at some time or another is probably going to need an ambulance. And I think we’ve started a good thing here, and a good relationship with the residents” of the retirement community.

Along with providing emergency response when needed, his organization also provides non-emergency transport, for doctor’s office visits, for both Woodcrest Villa and Mennonite Home residents.