Thousands of lives are saved each year throughout the greater Pittsburgh region thanks to the prompt, expert care provided by EMS professionals and other first response teams. During the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball season, West Penn Allegheny Health System’s (WPAHS) “Great Saves” campaign will salute local first responders and reunite many of them over the course of the season with the patients they cared for.

The “Great Saves” campaign will officially kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at the annual Seven Springs EMS Update Conference. Valley Ambulance Authority of Moon Township will be the first EMS group recognized on Saturday, along with Peter Shandrick, a cardiac arrest victim from Moon whose life they saved last fall.

Eric Brader, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) was the catalyst behind the “Great Saves” initiative. During his career in the emergency department, he noticed that patients and first responders would often develop an emotional bond. He began to envision a way of bringing these individuals together.

“Typically, EMS providers, police officers and fire fighters are the first to respond to an emergency medical situation involving cardiac arrest, stroke, burns or trauma,” said Dr. Brader. “Once a patient is transported to the hospital, however, most first responders do not have an opportunity to see that patient again and never know the patient’s outcome. Likewise, patients who survive an emergency situation later think about the persons who saved their life. These patients are grateful to be alive and many wish they could personally thank the medical personnel that responded to their medical emergency.”

With the “Great Saves” program, WPAHS will bring together a patient, their family and a first response team twice a month during the 2009 baseball season for a game at PNC Park. The group will sit together during the game and will be featured on the Jumbotron. At the start of certain games, a patient will also throw out the first pitch.

“Great Saves is an opportunity to show that the emergency response system really does make a difference,” said Dr. Brader. “First responders do not get nearly enough recognition for the lifesaving work they do. Great Saves is a way to honor these individuals. And it also affords former patients and first responders a chance to get to know each other under much pleasanter circumstances.”

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Editors Note: Media are welcome to attend the “Great Save” launch on Saturday at Seven Springs. The contact for media at Seven Springs that day is Eric Schmidt from AGH who can be reached at 412-670-8904. Please contact Dan Laurent to arrange for interviews prior to or after the event at 412-359-8602.