Our history

The roots of this Organization are firmly in the Greater Pittston Community and date back to 1952. It all began on Searle Street in Pittston City. In early 1952, three Searle Street residents, Chris Shultz, James Casalo and Carl Petroziello witnessed a terrible accident on their street. A man was hit by a car and waited over 45 minutes for an emergency vehicle to respond. Unfortunately, the man passed away before its arrival. 

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Seeing what happened, these three men decided that a reliable emergency ambulance service was needed in the Pittston area. By December of 1952, the Greater Pittston Ambulance Association was organized. It began with the purchase of a used Cadillac Ambulance from Harold Howell, proprietor of the Howell Funeral Home, for $6,000.00. The money to purchase this Unit was raised through a house-to-house canvass. The chairperson of the first fund drive was Mrs. Edythe Walsh. 

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By May of 1953, the Ambulance Charter was drawn up. At that time, the Charter included the communities of Pittston City, Pittston Township, Jenkins Township, Yatesville, Laflin, Hughestown, Dupont, and a part of Duryea. The ambulance was housed in the Broad Street garage. The first officers of the Organization were the aforementioned Mr. Shultz, President; Patrick Flannery, Esq., Vice-President; William Murphy, Secretary; William Watson, Treasurer; and, Stanley Serino, who held the chief operational rank, which at that time and through 2016 was “Captain.” The first patient transported by the ambulance was Ms. Mary Dubiesky.  

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After three years of service, a new ambulance was needed. A 1956 Cadillac ambulance was purchased. In that year, Edythe Walsh became President of the Organization, and the first By-Laws were adopted. The By-Laws set up the rules and regulations for the members of the Organization. At that time, the coverage area for the ambulance service stretched far north as the Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock, and as far south as St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hazleton. Our house-to-house membership drive, which continues up to the present date, set membership fees at that time of $1.00 per year/per family. In 1960, a new Cadillac ambulance was purchased. Stanley Serino continued to serve as Captain, and Mrs. James Clark served as President. From 1953 to 1963, the Association elected six presidents, two captains, and was manned by a number of what were known as at the time, “ambulance attendants.”  During this time period, three ambulances were purchased and a total of 65,000 miles were traveled, with approximately 6000 trips recorded. As we have grown over the years, we now respond to more than that in a single year. 

​In 1965, a new ambulance was purchased, or, as it sometimes referred to in that era, a “mercy vehicle.”  Officers at that time included Mrs. Edythe Walsh, President; RomaineShannon, Vice-President; Helen Clark, Secretary; and, Helen Nagy, Treasurer. Frank Castellino, who later gained prominence as a Luzerne County elected official and was very much involved in organizational publicity and good will over the years, served as a Trustee at the time. Active ambulance attendants at that time included Frank DePhillips, who served in the position of Co-Captain, Jerry Walsh, Joseph Boos, Tony Fonzo, Louis Alexander, who served as Co-Captain, John Merlino, and Thomas “Mickey” McFadden.  Francis “Skeets” McDonald served as Captain and also as Pittston City Fire Chief. 

In those days, the ambulances were manufactured by the same manufacturers who also built funeral hearses and, in many ways, looked very similar. The 1965 unit was purchased from a company called S&S Sales and was known as “a professional high-body Cadillac.” It cost the ambulance $12,385.00 at the time. 

​For many years, the ambulance (known as “Car 5”) was quartered in the Broad Street garage, and later the basement garage of Pittston City Hall. All Association business and drivers’ meetings were conducted in a meeting room at City Hall. Emergency calls were phoned into City Hall (654-2525), and the City police dispatcher would call ambulance members at home andwork to come to City Hall to pick up the ambulance and respond to the emergency.

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By 1970, the Organization started looking for land in Pittston City to construct a new station. The Organization wanted to have an area for crew members to gather and spend time during off-hours, and also to allow crews to have space for their ambulance unit, storage, and offer faster response times. In January of 1973, the location was decided which is the current headquarters of the Organization at the corner of Market and South Main Streets, in downtown Pittston. Construction of the new building was completed almost entirely by members and friends of the Organization. Countless hours were volunteered to complete the project. The ribbon was cut on October 23, 1977. 

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In the first few decades of the Organization, the ambulance was completely manned by volunteers. In the early days, the ambulance attendants had little to no training. The EMS Act formalized EMT and paramedic training in the 1970s. Members began attending training classes, eventually being certified, and the ambulance was certified and recognized by the Pennsylvania Department of Health as a basic life support provider. 

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​By the 1990s, it was becoming apparent, due to increases in call volumes and the types of incidents that people call an ambulance for, along with changing lifestyle dynamics, that it was no longer feasible to rely solely on volunteers to man the ambulance. In January of 1996, the Organization initiated a system of paid staff on a part-time basis. This was one of the first such programs in the Wyoming Valley. The first paid crews would work six-hour shifts between the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with volunteers continuing to respond in the evening hours, and when multiple calls came in at the same time. Eventually, the paid staffing would be expanded to include the evening and overnight hours. By the early 2000s, full-time staff would be added, along with benefits and measures that began to transition the Organization where all emergency calls would be answered by on-duty staff. 

​In 2002, we celebrated our 50th anniversary.  The occasion was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 2-bay addition to our Headquarters.  The addition was necessitated by the expansion of our fleet to three units.  As with the original construction, much of the work was done by volunteers, at little cost to the organization.  Pittston Mayor Mike Lombardo would take an active role in managing the construction.  At the 50th celebration, beloved President James “Sox” Ruane would be honored with a plaque.  In later years, his nickname and a “Sox” logo would be added to our units, to commemorate his passion for the organization.  He would be bestowed the title “President Emeritus,” upon his retiring from the position in 2010. 

​By the 2010s, the coverage area for the ambulance had changed drastically. Many of the original chartered communities, over the years, would start their own ambulance services including, Pittston Township, Jenkins Township, and later, Hughestown. During this time period, Organization leadership began to discuss the possibility of transitioning the service into an advanced life support provider. Detailed studies were undertaken to determine feasibility, and in January 2011, Edward Szafran, who currently serves as the Chief of Operations, was hired to become the Organization’s first, what was known at the time, “Paramedic Coordinator” to begin advanced life support operations. After much planning, acquiring needed equipment, and bringing on paramedic staff to the Organization, the Organization’s first paramedic unit, “Medic 29,” would go into service and respond to its first call at the CVS Pharmacy on North Main Street in Pittston on April 10, 2011. One of the crew members on that call was Robert Lombardo, the brother of fallen Pittston City firefighter, John Lombardo. Both John and Rob previously served as Captains of the Organization.  John’s sacrifice is memorialized on all of our units with a rose and his initials. 

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Since the beginning of Medic 29 in 2011, a dynamic group of members, employees, and friends have undertaken significant change, expansion, and growth of the Organization. In 2013, the members conferred with the members of the then Jenkins Township Ambulance regarding a possible merger. Within a few short months, it was decided that the Jenkins Township Ambulance would be merged into the Greater Pittston Ambulance and, at that time, the word “Regional” would be added to our official title recognizing that, much like in the early days of the Organization, we would be returning to the original vision of being an emergency provider for the entire Greater Pittston region. Shortly thereafter, discussions ensued with members of the Exeter Community Ambulance, and by January 2019, that merger would be completed bringing the Organization into the West Side communities for the first time.  Operations would begin out of a substation in Exeter. Shortly thereafter, upon the closing of the Wyoming and West Wyoming Community Ambulances, service would be expanded to the communities of Wyoming Borough and West Wyoming Borough.  Additional expansion of our service area included West Pittston Borough and Laflin Borough.  In November 2024 the Avoca Ambulance Association would begin the process of joining the regionalization once again expanding the service are of the GPRA to Avoca Borough.

The efforts of our dynamic leadership team would culminate and be recognized by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in 2019, as we would proudly be named the state’s “EMS Agency of the Year – large service division.” This was a very proud moment for our organization. 

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Today, much like the vision of our early founders, the Organization provides regional EMS coverage to Pittston City, Jenkins Township, Yatesville Borough, Exeter Borough, Wyoming Borough, West Wyoming Borough, West Pittston Borough, Laflin Borough and Avoca Borough. Additionally, Medic 29 provides ALS support coverage to nearly every other community in the Greater Pittston area including, Hughestown Borough, Pittston Township, Exeter Township, and mutual aid to many communities even beyond the Greater Pittston Area. We operate two stations(Headquarters in Downtown Pittston and West in Exeter Borough), eight ambulance units, two emergency squad units, a support vehicle and a special operations trailer.  Moreover, the Organization continues to stay true to our community roots providing service to many community events – parades, school functions and athletic events. In addition to the advanced life support and basic life support capabilities, special operations functions have been added to provide specialized skills and expertise for more complicated emergency medical calls. Training both of fellow EMS workers and the community at large has also continued to be a priority of the Organization, with training classes being offered at our stations and the Pittston Memorial Library. 

​Holding true to the old adage, the more things change the more they stay the same, just like it was in 1952, the Organization remains true to its core values of community and to complete dedication to the Greater Pittston Region, an Organization started by its people, continuing to serve its people.