Pa. Asks Volunteer Medics to Help During Pope`s Visit For Free

Aug. 20--City and state officials are seeking hundreds of medics to bolster Philadelphia's force of emergency workers to deal with medical issues among the massive crowds the weekend of Pope Francis' visit.

The state Department of Health has emailed agencies around the state asking volunteers to come to Philadelphia to work 12-hour stints between Sept. 24 and 28. They are being asked to work unpaid, and some are being asked to bring emergency vehicles -- and their credit cards, to pay for their own fuel.

State health officials say they hope to get 500 medics to staff the papal visit, doubling the city's existing force of 198 paid paramedics and 53 emergency medical technicians.

While the workers being solicited are being told their services will be unpaid, health officials say they have found state funding to reimburse some of the workers "should it be necessary."

The World Meeting of Families 2015, which is organizing the papal visit and raising $45 million to pay for it, has said it would cover "all expenses" related to Francis' visit.

"The budget is set to accommodate for the invoices we receive," including security and infrastructure, Archdiocese of Philadelphia spokesman Ken Gavin said in an email.

But state officials said they do not expect to be reimbursed for the public safety resources they are contributing, which includes deploying 1,100 state troopers.

Jeff Sheridan, a spokesman for Gov. Wolf, said: "The commonwealth has a responsibility to maintain the health and safety of potentially millions of people who will attend this event."

Some have raised concerns over the use of public funds to staff the visit of a religious figure.

Lawyer M. Kelly Tillery, who as a young law school graduate in 1979 challenged the city over its funding of a stage for Pope John Paul II's visit, said he didn't "think taxpayers should be paying" for such religious events.

Medics who respond to the request will likely come from beyond the Philadelphia region. The Pennsylvania counties immediately surrounding the city will not be providing medics -- with the influx of visitors to their own areas, they say, they can't spare their own EMS personnel.

Requests for help, including volunteer aid, from EMS agencies around the state are not unusual, and the state generally finds volunteers, said Amy Worden, communications director for the state Department of Health.

She said the department and other agencies "are committed to make sure that we provide the necessary resources to keep people safe."

How many EMTs will be needed has not been determined, Worden said.

Typically, cities request help from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, which handles everything from snowplow needs to extra police. PEMA would then deal with the state agencies that could fulfill the request.

Samantha Phillips, the city's Office of Emergency Management director, said that once those requests are made, fulfilling them is largely in the state's hands.

In this case, Philadelphia's request for extra medics went to the Department of Health, which sent out an email, obtained by The Inquirer, to various EMS agencies this summer.

The email promised accommodations for the volunteer medics -- likely at school buildings, on cots in gymnasiums -- and meals. But, it said, "any commitment by an EMS agency or any person should be considered voluntary and unpaid."

Unclear is how many communities from around the state have committed to sending medics to Philadelphia in September.

"We hope to have a better sense soon of what can be committed, and what else will need to be obtained through different means," Worden wrote. That could mean asking agencies from different states to send medics.

"With these options, we believe we can meet the needs requested for this event," Worden said.

Phillips said the city feels prepared for the papal visit when it comes to EMS needs.

"We're feeling confident," she said. "There's nothing we've asked for that we're worried about."

Mayor Nutter's spokesman, Mark McDonald, said that the city would not release details on EMS deployments for the papal visit, and that the city typically does not discuss deployment plans for large events.

"The city will have extensive EMS resources committed to the events as well as coverage for the wider city," he wrote in an email.

The city will have six first aid stations and four medical stations similar to field hospitals set up during the papal visit, McDonald said.

For complete coverage

of Pope Francis' visit, go to www.philly.com/pope

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