Emergency Operations
Emergency Response
Citizens’ Ambulance Service provides high-quality, emergent patient care for citizens of Indiana, Armstrong, and Westmoreland Counties. Our crews provide transport to many hospitals within Citizens’ service areas, to include Indiana Regional Medical Center, Excela Latrobe, Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, Punxsutawney Hospital, just to name a few.
Citizens’ Field Personnel receive advanced training and maintain certifications with PA Department of Health and National Registry Certification as Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT), Paramedic (EMT-P), and Prehospital Registered Nurses (PHRN). Our providers provide immediate pre-hospital medical care for a multitude of conditions such as traumatic injury, cardiac and respiratory emergencies, Stroke, overdoses, etc. Our fleet of 16 medic units and 3 Squad Response Vehicles are equipped to handle emergencies of any age.
In a rural setting that Citizens’ covers, Immediate Response Personnel (IRPs) respond in tandem with responding ambulances providing quick and immediate life-saving measures to our patients until the transporting ambulance arrives. Citizens’ too has partnered with local volunteer fire departments within our service area that in addition to our IRPs, they too provide quick medical response to the communities they serve. Citizens’ is proud to be partnered with Dayton VFD, Homer City VFD, Creekside VFD, Cherryhill VFD, Coal Run VFD, and Commodore VFD as our QRS agencies.
Citizens’ Ambulance Service Facts
Approximately 90,000 residents
500,000 Accumulated Miles Annually
9,000-10,000 requests for service
900-1,100 Square Mile Service Area
110 Licensed/Certified Personnel
Service Area Coverage: Indiana County and a portion of Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties
47 Municipalities – Designated 911 Provider
16 Advanced Life Support Equipped Ambulances
3 Advanced Life Support Squad Response Vehicles
Special Services Unit –Fire Rehab Response
Mission: Lifeline EMS Gold
Citizens’ Ambulance Service nationally recognized for its commitment to quality care for patients suffering heart attacks and strokes
The American Heart Association presents the Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold achievement award for proven dedication to ensuring access to best practices and life-saving care.
INDIANA, PA, November 3, 2025 — Citizens’ Ambulance Service has received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold achievement award for its commitment to offering rapid and research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attacks and strokes, ultimately saving lives.
Emergency medical services staff can begin treatment when they arrive — up to an hour sooner than if someone goes to the hospital by car. EMS staff are also trained to provide resuscitation efforts to someone whose heart has stopped. People who arrive by ambulance may also receive faster treatment at the hospital.
Mission: Lifeline EMS® is the American Heart Association's national initiative to advance the system of care for patients with high-risk, time-sensitive disease states, such as severe heart attacks and strokes. The program helps reduce barriers to prompt treatment — starting from when 911 is called, to EMS transport and continuing through hospital treatment and discharge. Optimal care for heart attack and stroke patients takes coordination between the individual prehospital providers and healthcare systems.
“Arguably the most important link in the chains of survival for acute stroke and cardiovascular emergencies is emergency medical services and prehospital professionals,” said Kacey Kronenfeld, M.D., FAEMS, chair of the American Heart Association's Mission: Lifeline EMS Taskforce. “Early condition identification, stabilization and prehospital interventions, and initiation of actions within the regional systems of care provide patients with the best chance for receiving expedient definitive therapies leading to optimal outcomes and maximized quality of life.
“The American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline EMS awards are an important way to recognize the crucial roles and performances of EMS personnel in stroke and cardiac patients’ care.”
The Mission: Lifeline EMS achievement award focuses on agencies’ on-scene care, bringing to the forefront the collaboration and contributions to patient care for prehospital providers.
“Citizens’ Ambulance Service is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to providing optimal care for heart attack patients,” Director of Operations Mike Dunn said. “Quality patient care drives Citizens’ mission, and the commitment to providing top quality care since inception has and will always remain at the forefront of Citizens’ Ambulance Service. I am pleased to see our Field Providers being recognized for the excellent patient care rendered to the citizens of Indiana County and beyond.”
“The Mission Lifeline Award recognizes agencies that have met benchmarks set by the AHA. The prehospital providers at Citizen’s ambulance use EMS guidelines, proven knowledge and past experiences to provide the level of care that meets these benchmarks and provides the patient with the best possible chance of survival,” noted Paramedic Cliff Clawson. Clawson has been overseeing the program for the past four years. “For 2025, I am planning to additionally submit for the ‘Mission Lifeline Target Heart Attack’ distinction which is focused on the collaboration between Citizens’ and IRMC to provide the patient with life-saving treatments and timely percutaneous coronary intervention such as coronary stents.”
IRMC also received the American Heart Association’s Target: Stroke℠ Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with thrombolytic therapy.
IRMC Stroke Program Coordinator Registered Nurse Sara George said that the program “makes it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis,” which leads to a goal of making sure “more people in our region can experience longer, healthier lives.”
Citizens’ has been a Mission: Lifeline recipient since the program’s inception in 2014, earning Bronze in the first year, Silver in the second, and Gold since 2016. Board President Dave Piper emphasized, “the recognition shows Citizens’ commitment to quality performance and coordination of care through partnerships with local, regional, and national agencies - from the initial dispatch by Indiana County 911 dispatchers, to the initial triage, treatment and transport by our paramedics and EMTs, to the treatment by doctors and nurses at the STEMI/Stroke Center at IRMC. At the end of the day, patient care is our priority.”
“From my own personal experience,” Piper continued, “from the time of the 911 call, Citizens’ trained personnel were at my door in 6 minutes, and my mother-in-law was at the hospital receiving treatment for her stroke within 50 minutes.”
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About Citizens’ Ambulance Service:
Established in 1964, Citizens’ Ambulance Service is a nonprofit corporation that provides Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and non-emergency ambulance and van service to the residents of Indiana County and portions of Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties. Our professional medical care staff is always on call -- just dial 911 and ask for Citizens'.
About Mission: Lifeline
Mission: Lifeline EMS® recognition is the American Heart Association’s program that recognizes prehospital emergency agencies for their quality of care for heart attack and stroke patients. The recognition program focuses on transforming care quality by connecting all heart attack and stroke care components into a seamlessly integrated care system. Key tenets of these systems of care reinforce evidence-based guidelines and measure performance, identify gaps, and engage in quality improvement.
For more information, visit heart.org.