{"id":101738,"date":"2026-01-31T18:27:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/101738\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T18:27:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:27:44","slug":"ecgra-invests-over-4-8-million-to-boost-emergency-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/101738\/","title":{"rendered":"ECGRA invests over $4.8 million to boost emergency services"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ECGRA\"<\/a>Left to Right (Angela Amatangelo, Vice Chair ECGRA Board – Mary Wassell, City of Erie Media and PR Coordinator – Perry Wood, Executive Director ECGRA – Jim Wertz, Erie County Council – Christina Vogel, Erie County Executive – Chris Drexel, Erie County Council – David Basnak, Emergycare President & Executive Director – Terry Scutella, Erie County Council Chair – Matthew Bennett, Emergycare Director of Operations). Contributed photo.<\/p>\n

Awards $100,000\u00a0to\u00a0EmergyCare\u00a0for the purchase of a new ambulance<\/p>\n

At a press conference today,\u00a0the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority (ECGRA) released\u00a0A Lifeline for Erie County<\/a>, a report highlighting $4.8 million in\u00a0support for emergency services,\u00a0leveraging\u00a0more than $10 million with match funding. Additionally, ECGRA announced\u00a0a $100,000 multi-municipal collaboration grant awarded to\u00a0EmergyCare\u00a0for the purchase of a new lifesaving ambulance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cECGRA\u2019s support of Emergency Medical Services has been instrumental in ensuring that essential, lifesaving care\u00a0remains\u00a0accessible to the communities\u00a0EmergyCare\u00a0serves,\u201d said David J.\u00a0Basnak, President and Executive Director of\u00a0EmergyCare.\u00a0\u201cIn an\u00a0environment where EMS continues to face significant underfunding, their investment has provided critical capital resources that would otherwise\u00a0be\u00a0out of reach. ECGRA\u2019s commitment directly strengthens the safety, health, and resilience of Erie County\u2014\u00a0benefiting\u00a0both those who live here and those who visit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

EmergyCare\u00a0is\u00a0one\u00a0of many\u00a0organizations\u00a0across the county facing challenges, and\u00a0ECGRA is stepping up\u00a0with meaningful\u00a0solutions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cECGRA\u00a0is investing in\u00a0a solution that works.\u00a0Sustainable EMS systems are built when municipalities communicate, cooperate, and commit to shared\u00a0responsibility,\u00a0\u201csaid\u00a0Executive Director of ECGRA Perry Wood. \u201cEmergency services are critical across the county,\u00a0and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0directing\u00a0funding\u00a0where\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0needed\u00a0most\u00a0to keep communities safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s\u00a0emergency\u00a0management systems have been under strain for more than a decade due to\u00a0declining volunteerism, limited resources, and aging equipment. In Erie County,\u00a0paid municipal and mutual aid EMS programs\u00a0are expanding coverage to address\u00a0chronic understaffing and aging equipment, helping reduce\u00a0risk\u00a0and\u00a0strengthen emergency response capabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After meeting with leaders across the county, ECGRA began helping EMS agencies bridge funding gaps when investing in essential equipment\u2014 strengthening their ability to meet growing demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grant funding for emergency services\u00a0is\u00a0through a\u00a0Multi-Municipal Collaboration Grant.\u00a0ECGRA launched\u00a0this grant program\u00a0in 2012 to catalyze functional cooperation among Erie County\u2019s 38 municipalities\u00a0to support economic growth and vibrancy in the community. In the creation of the grant requirements, ECGRA Executive Director Perry Wood worked closely with\u00a0local stakeholders\u00a0and leaders\u00a0to educate them about the grant and\u00a0help coordinate the provisioning of services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To read the full report, click the link\u00a0A Lifeline for Erie County<\/a>,\u00a0and stay up to date\u00a0with updates from ECGRA\u00a0on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Left to Right (Angela Amatangelo, Vice Chair ECGRA Board – Mary Wassell, City of Erie Media and PR…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-101738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}