There’s been a lot of talk about emergency services over the past several years – and rightly so.

It was interesting to see conversation at last week’s Warren City Council meeting about a recent Council of Governments discussion of EMS that very clearly stated what many have known for a while but don’t want to say out loud – there is no white knight coming to save the day.

“There is no cavalry coming to save us,” Danielle Flasher, Warren City Council vice president and the council’s representative to the COG, said of the presentation. “The solution to the crisis that we face is unfortunately a local one.”

State government can help make it easier to attract volunteer EMTS or to help open up revenue streams that would allow higher payments for EMS services rendered, but creating a stronger network of EMS services in an area that has suffered decades of population loss will be a local effort, not a state effort.

The news isn’t all bad. We’ve known this was the case for quite some time. We’ve been having in-depth discussions at the Council of Government for years. A lot of good work has gone into solving the local EMS crisis, including the city of Warren reaching agreements with neighboring townships and boroughs to use Warren personnel to respond outside the city limits to provide EMS coverage. There have been efforts to increase the number of volunteer firefighters and East Forest has created an EMS authority to provide emergency medical services.

There are a lot of options and scenarios that will have to be discussed. This process may seem painfully slow, but the future of EMS in Warren County will consist of dozens of choices – and it’s important that we get each of them right. Slow but steady is a difficult mantra when you’re talking about a field in which seconds count. But Flasher’s report to the City Council should serve as a reminder to everyone in Warren County that the way we provide EMS services will have to change – and there will be a cost to be paid.