Pittsburgh, PA - The Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS held a promotion, swearing-in, and awards ceremony in Council Chambers on Friday, July 26, 2024.
Mayor Ed Gainey administered the oath of office to swear in three Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and three new Paramedics who successfully completed their probationary period, as well as two EMTs who were promoted to the rank of Paramedic.
EMS Chief Amera Gilchrist reminded the group of the importance of taking the Oath of Office for the Bureau of EMS.
“It means that you make a promise to the people of the City of Pittsburgh that you will care for them in their time of need. It means that your comfort is sacrificed for those you vowed to help. It means that you dedicate your time for the greater good to be of service. All too often in the day in, day out mundaneness, we lose sight of why we chose this career path; it’s because we wanted to help,” said Gilchrist.
Before recognizing five paramedics who took the initiative to take on additional training to become state instructors, Chief Gilchrist told all of those who were being promoted and honored that they are the face of EMS and the reason the Bureau continues to thrive and succeed.
Assistant Chief Mark Pinchalk recognized thirteen members of EMS with the Resuscitation Excellence Award for employing extraordinary life-saving efforts in the field.
Congratulations to everyone who was promoted and recognized!
Emergency Medical Technicians (sworn-in): Patrick Dobbins, Max Nowalk, Joseph Varga.
Paramedics (sworn-in): William Lindberg, Ashley Martin, Austin Scherba.
Promoted from EMT to Paramedic: Domenick Rapone, Romi Chaouk.
New State Instructors: Paul Feightner, Sarah Geyer, Melissa Smith, Scott Studebaker, Gregory Guckert.
Resuscitation Excellence Award Recipients: Paul Feightner, Ashley Martin , Domenick Rapone, James Dlutowski, Katsiaryna Lohinava, Christy Zalewski, Benjamin Bowman, Benjamin Upham, Daniel Berg, Sara Geyer, William Lindberg, Gregory Guckert, Sean McGrath.
