By Dan Sokil
The Reporter
NORTH WALES, Pa. 鈥� A local emergency response agency has gotten a big thank-you from one of its territories. Borough officials presented a check to VMSC-EMS as thanks for the work to protect their community.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very grateful to North Wales for their continued support of our EMS operation,鈥� said VMSC Chief Shane Wheeler.
鈥淚鈥檓 happy to report that every municipality that we provide service to, there are 12, are subsidizing or providing monetary support this year,鈥� he said.
Headquartered on the grounds of Lansdale Hospital in Hatfield Township, VMSC is an ambulance corps that provides emergency medical coverage to the North Penn and Indian Valley areas, and as of Jan. 1 formally changed their name to VMSC-Emergency Medical Services from the former Volunteer Medical Service Corps designation. Starting in 2023, VMSC leadership has made the case to those municipalities for consistent funding streams from the towns it serves, including in North Wales. A $10,000 annual contribution was included in the borough鈥檚 budget for 2025, and Wheeler gave council an update on the agency鈥檚 activities and expanding footprint on Tuesday night, using roughly $750,000 donated by the towns they serve.
VMSC Medical Service Corps makes case to municipalities for funding
鈥淚n 2024, we responded to 500 EMS calls exactly 鈥� a little unusual number, but 500 on the nose. Our number one type of call we responded to is in general for a sick person, falls are number two, and we鈥檙e trying to find ways to fund some fall mitigation programs,鈥� Wheeler said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e all seen that very robust and healthy 80-year-old that鈥檚 out in public doing things, and then they trip and fall and it鈥檚 a rough go from there, and often leads to a terminal situation in a short period of time. So we鈥檙e trying to find ways to fund some fall mitigation programs, and we think we have some ideas on how to do that,鈥� he said.
VMSC has partnered with local law enforcement and fire companies to increase cardiac arrest survival rates via use of CPR and defibrillators, with survival rates within VMSC鈥檚 coverage area roughly double the rate of the rest of Pennsylvania, Wheeler said.
鈥淪o if you want to have a heart attack, please do it in one of our 12 municipalities,鈥� he said. 鈥淥f the 114 cardiac arrests that we responded to (in 2024), 51 patients are alive today, of that 114. That鈥檚 just a remarkable number, people don鈥檛 believe it, but we can prove it.鈥�
When VMSC鈥檚 board hired Wheeler to lead what had been a volunteer organization at the start of 2022, 鈥渢here were many nights where I was the only paramedic available,鈥� and the agency has since shifted to a 鈥�99 percent paid鈥� structure, with a total of 57 certified paramedics now working for the agency. Two years ago, ten EMTs entered a paramedic training program in partnership with Jefferson Health, and all ten have now completed that program and a new class of 13 more have entered a second round.
Jefferson Lansdale Hospital, VMSC form Community Paramedicine Partnership
VMSC has also recently rolled out a program of transfusing whole blood in the field, something only one percent of EMS agencies in the country are able to do, and the chief said that program has already made a difference.
鈥淚鈥檓 happy to report that, just ten days ago, we did a blood transfusion in Towamencin, just down the street, successfully saving somebody鈥檚 life with a blood transfusion,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ithout this municipal support, we would not have these successes.鈥�
New partnership begun between Indian Valley and North Penn area ambulances
Councilman Mark Tarlecki asked for specifics on VMSC鈥檚 coverage area, and Wheeler said the agency now covers Franconia, Salford, part of Hilltown, Towamencin, Upper Gwynedd, Hatfield and Montgomery Townships, plus Telford, Souderton, Lansdale, North Wales and Hatfield boroughs. VMSC also has 鈥渁 robust partnership鈥� with Children鈥檚 Hospital of Philadelphia to transport certain patients there, has 鈥渄edicated resources at some of the hospitals鈥� in the Jefferson Health system, and has a contract to provide EMS services to a military base in Monroe Count , Wheeler said.
Resident Al Tenney asked for more on the blood transfusion program, and Wheeler said VMSC now carries universal donor blood that is stored in specialized refrigerators and deployed when needed.
鈥淲e have to keep the blood between 1 and 4 degrees Celsius, and then we have blood warmers that we attach to the blood when we鈥檙e getting it ready, and will raise that blood to body temperature for the transfusion,鈥� he said.
Mayor Neil McDevitt then asked about the difference between paramedics versus EMTs, and Wheeler said EMTs typically require roughly 150 hours of training and focus on stabilizing patients immediately, without providing medications or IVs, while paramedics undergo 1,200 to 1,500 hours of training and can do the more advanced and intensive treatments: 鈥淪ignificantly different in the level of care.鈥�
Councilman Sal Amato asked if VMSC had seen an increase in strokes in recent years, and Wheeler said VMSC responded to roughly 800 total stroke calls in 2024, adding that 鈥淲e鈥檙e blessed in our community鈥� to have 鈥渞eally great, comprehensive stroke care鈥� at Lansdale Hospital and other area facilities.
For more on VMSC 鈥� EMS and their programs and services, visit or follow 鈥淰MSC Emergency Medical Services鈥� on Facebook.
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