UPPER DARBY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The Crozer health care system will be a thing of the past in Delaware County by the end of the week. That means towns and municipalities across the county must now find and fund resources Crozer had facilitated for decades, such as paramedic services.
One of those municipalities is Upper Darby. “More of our residents use EMS services in a given year than any of our neighbors or probably any township in Delaware County,” said Mayor Ed Brown. Upper Darby’s 87,000 residents, he proclaimed, could breathe a sigh of relief.
“We have an agreement. We have a solution in place,” he said. “It's a million dollar contract and it’s annual.”
Brown said the township was proactive in inking a deal with STAT EMS out of Drexel Hill, who began serving Upper Darby on Monday. The township is one of several municipalities across the county that have made similar deals to provide residents with that crucial service.
“We recognized how precarious that situation was a few months ago and we realized we need to prepare for that,” he said.
Brown said his administration has already been in talks with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and other state lawmakers about future funding and expansion of emergency services beyond Upper Darby.
"We're looking forward to crafting a solution that is sustainable, that helps all of the surrounding municipalities and that the state really can help us have a long term solution that people can rely on and keeps all of our residents safe.”