Pa. bike ride honors EMS personnel who died in line of duty

By Steven Henshaw
The Reading Eagle

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Police officers and firefighters get a lot of recognition for sometimes sacrificing their lives, most notably on 9/11.

But one occupation in emergency services tends to get overlooked for the sacrifices the workers make on the job.

Though they might not rush into burning buildings, emergency medical services personnel endure one adrenaline-pumping, high-stress situation after another on any given day to save lives.

For the past six years, the Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation and the state Department of Health's Bureau of Emergency Medical Services has hosted an EMS memorial service in the Capitol in Harrisburg.

For this year's service, held Sept. 12 in the main Rotunda, dozens of EMS professionals arrived in bicycle shorts and matching jerseys commemorating the "Inaugural PA EMS Memorial Bike Ride."

About 25 EMS professionals, including three from Berks County, participated in the three-day, 150-mile bicycle ride that began Sept. 10 at the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County near Shanksville.

The ride was to honor the memory of 42 of their EMS brothers and sisters in Pennsylvania lost in the line of duty, said Ed Moreland, chairman of the Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation and chief of Spring Township-based Western Berks Ambulance.

Moreland was joined by two local colleagues, Michael Whalen, a former Reading Hospital emergency room nurse who is CEO of Emergency Educators, and paramedic Chris Buckmoyer of Southern Berks Regional EMS.

Moreland, who was one of the speakers in the ceremony, said he lost two co-workers to line-of-duty deaths during his 25-year career. Both suffered heart attacks.

"We're trying to bring home (raise public awareness) that EMS workers are part of public safety work group and don't perhaps get the same recognition that fire and police do," Moreland said.

Recruiting and retaining emergency services workers was the secondary goal of the ride. The group stopped to talk to emergency providers along the way through the scenic hills and valleys of western and central Pennsylvania.

The job of paramedic requires long hours and typically commands lower pay than other emergency workers, making it an increasingly undesirable career choice for young men and women, Moreland said.

The foundation hosts an annual banquet to raise funds for an academic scholarship.

Over the past 10 years, it has awarded more than $35,000 in scholarships to individuals who want to be paramedics, he said.

Moreland said the inaugural ride accomplished both goals.

"It was the largest crowd we've every had at the EMS Memorial Service," Moreland said, adding that the riders were honored to be greeted my many of their colleagues in his field from across the state as well as state officials.

Copyright 2016 the Reading Eagle

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