Pat Kelly, crew chief from Quality EMS, sits inside one of the ambulances on Thursday afternoon. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Most people remember their first car.

Pat Kelly, crew chief of Quality EMS, can tell you about her first ambulance like it was yesterday.

“(It) was a used ambulance from Jeanette EMS, a very old used ambulance,” Kelly said. “It had a linoleum floor on it. The lighting was much, much different from what it is today. There were old-fashioned lights, like the lights on the old police cars, whereas today we have the digital lights.”

As co-founder of the company, Kelly has seen a lot of change over her many years with Quality EMS. Working as a paramedic, she travels out on about four calls each day, but says the company helps with between 3,500 and 4,000 ambulance calls each year.

“In the beginning, you would maybe go days and not have a call. That’s certainly not the case today,” she said. “I’m pretty sure we’ve logged in about 2,550 today (for the year) as of now, and we still have a couple of months to go.”

Pat Kelly, crew chief from Quality EMS, stands outside next to one to the ambulances on Thursday afternoon. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

At age 69, Kelly plans to retire from her role soon, in January. Looking back at the group’s history, she admits she never expected Quality EMS would grow to where it is today.

“It was in August 1996 that we actually did our first call. At that time, we were all volunteers. We had a support group of people who did fundraisers for us, and went out and did PR to try to get us established,” Kelly said. “To me, it’s much more than a job, it’s a mission. I feel that it’s my way to serve God in helping other people.”

Kelly credits co-founder Dorothy Riesmeyer with getting Quality EMS kicked off in 1996.

“She was an essential founder. It was all of our idea, but she really took the lead in getting Quality established,” Kelly said. “We had a lot of good times together in the initial start, and the business expanded. We ended up buying the building we are in now from Passavant, and then added the wheelchair vans, and eventually as times changed and volunteers became less, we had to go to a partial paid staff and a total paid staff.”

The experience of working in EMS has changed a lot over time, as well as the equipment, Kelly said.

“We initially had very, very heavy steel two-man stretchers,” she said. “Currently, we have one completely self-load stretcher, and all of our stretchers are power stretchers. The monitors are much, much different. In the beginning we were shocking people with paddles like you see on TV, and now, you put the pads on and it’s all automatic; it’s not hands on.”

Responding to calls has become somewhat more of a careful situation than it used to be, she added.

“In the very beginning, you never really thought about going into a house and feeling like you were in danger,” Kelly said. “Everyone felt like you were going to help them, and they weren’t going to hurt you. In the current climate, you have to be a lot more street smart. We did not have a lot of calls where the police responded with us, for the same reason. We live in what seems like a pretty safe community, and we still live in a pretty safe community, but in the beginning, there were not near (as many of) the drug calls for overdoses and not as many psych calls as we have today, which I think is a sign of the times.”

Looking ahead, Kelly fears ongoing troubles, stemming from issues of finding staff, acquiring equipment and gathering funding.

“I’m concerned about the future. We were just talking about that today,” Kelly said. “I really feel that if somehow we don’t get more reimbursements, it’s going to be very difficult to maintain staff. You have to have the cash flow to pay people, and unfortunately, it’s hard to get EMT students and paramedic students, because they could go into other fields of medicine and make so much more money. I’m an EMT instructor, and I know how the class sizes go.”

At the end of her career, Kelly still finds a lot of fulfillment in working as a first responder. While she hopes to spend more time with her family after she retires, she plans to stay on the schedule as casual part-time staff.

“I love getting to meet people from all walks of life and listening to their story,” Kelly said. “I feel everybody has a story if you want to listen, and I try to be a comfort to those people when we are seeing them on their worst day.”

Pat Kelly, crew chief from Quality EMS, is retiring in January to spend more time with her family. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Though Pat Kelly, crew chief from Quality EMS, plans to retire in January, she also plans to remain as casual part-time staff for the ambulance service. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Pat Kelly is crew chief from Quality EMS. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle