We learned in Thursday’s edition of the Butler Eagle that the Forward Township supervisors are considering ways to help the emergency medical services providers working in the township, and we applaud them for taking the first steps.

For years, municipal and townships have been warning state lawmakers that the EMS system, particularly in rural areas, is nearing total collapse.

In February, Don DeReamus of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania told a House Republican panel: “To put it bluntly, the EMS system in the commonwealth is broken.”

Conrad Pfeifer, executive director of Quality EMS, has been delivering a similar message to officials in the municipalities the emergency medical service covers.

There are a lot of reasons things have gotten dire for EMS providers. One reason is Medicare and Medicaid both offer ambulance companies less for a call than the call costs — in some cases 40% less.

And many private insurance companies won’t pay for an ambulance ride at all unless there is an emergency, despite state law requiring ambulances to take anyone who requests transport to a hospital.

Equipment has gotten more expensive as well, in some cases nearly doubling in cost in less than a decade.

There are continuing problems recruiting, training and retaining firefighters and EMTs, as well.

State funding has increased, but that has proved inadequate to cover costs. The ideas that the Forward Township supervisors discussed at their meeting on Tuesday are ones other places around the state are also talking about, and more soon will be.

State law requires local governments to provide emergency services, including fire, police and ambulance, making this an issue more and more municipalities and townships will have to face.

Forward Township is going to consider paying a fee to the three EMS providers that cover the town, and will also looking at using part of the money from its 1.5 mill fire tax to pay for services also.

No matter what the final decision on how to help with funding is, the Forward Township supervisors have done the right thing for their community by looking at ways to keep their residents safe in an emergency.

— JK