Justin Guido

With the first class of Butler County’s 18-month paramedic training program about to graduate, the county commissioners approved training for a second class.

The county board of commissioners on Wednesday approved a $102,000 service agreement with Impulse Training Academy of Lower Burrell, the company teaching the current class, to teach the next class at Butler County Community College.

The first cohort, consisting of eight students from Butler County and two from the Erie area who paid to take the course, is graduating soon, Steve Bicehouse, emergency services director, told the commissioners.

The eight students from the county are required to work for a county ambulance service for a year after they graduate. They can work full-time or part-time as long as they work the required 2,080 hours, Bicehouse said.

He said the next course will run from Oct. 15 this year to May 31, 2028, and will accommodate up to 12 students.

“It’s been a pretty successful program to the point that the new cohort they’re looking at, people are already applying for a cohort that’s not even approved. So that’s a good sign,” Bicehouse said.

The commissioners said they are happy with the paramedic program and EMT Academy, which was created in 2024. Both programs were set up to address a shortage of paramedics and emergency medical technicians among county ambulance services. American Rescue Plan grant funds are being used to pay for the programs.

“This has been such a successful collaboration for both the EMT and paramedic academy,” said Leslie Osche, board chair.

Bicehouse agreed and said the goal is to address the shortage and get the paramedics and EMTs into the workforce to help in the community.

“I applaud you guys for the work that you’ve done on this because it definitely is a local level problem that you’re addressing at a county level. It’s had significant success,” Bicehouse said.

The third class of the EMT Academy is in session now at BC3, and one or two more classes are being planned, he said.

Jobs for EMTs in the county are being filled and surveys are being sent to ambulance services to see if they have as many EMTs as they need, he said. The goal of the program was to get 125 new EMTs.

Osche said the county also used American Rescue Plan money to subsidize Butler Memorial Hospital paramedics to work with county ambulance services.

Bicehouse said the hospital paramedics provide supplemental staffing for ambulance services in the northern part of the county when needed. He said two ambulance services used the program at first and one continues to use it.

In addition, an Allegheny Health Network paramedic response unit works in the northern part of the county to fill in for ambulances that are out of service when they take a patient to a hospital, he said. That ambulance carries a supply of blood, he added.

Bicehouse dubbed those programs a multipronged approach to improving ambulance service in the county. He said he no longer sees the gaps and delays in ambulance service that previously existed.

In other business:

• Wednesday, commissioners awarded a $147,150 contract to Grossman Construction of Slippery Rock for the West Sunbury stormwater project. Grossman submitted the lowest of four bids for the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

• Commissioners also approved selling 23 county-owned vehicles through the Municibid auction website. The vehicles include cars, SUVs, vans and trucks.