| CEM History |
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The Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. was formed in 1978 to bring the city of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine together to improve the quality and delivery of emergency medical services in Pittsburgh. In 1983, the Center approached city hospitals to join in an effort to create a community-based system of prehospital and emergency care. Those first member hospitals included: Presbyterian University, Montefiore, Children's, Eye and Ear, Magee, West Penn, Mercy and St. Francis. Later the membership of the Center expanded to include: Shadyside, South Side, South Hills Health System, and Westmoreland Regional Hospitals. By 1981, the Office of Education and Research was formed. The Center's education programs attract students from all over the world. The Center's research is regularly presented at meetings nationally, is published in journals worldwide and receives numerous awards for its contributions to the advancement of emergency medicine. The University of Pittsburgh Affiliated Residency in Emergency Medicine accepted its first class in 1981. Soon residents were treating patients and working in emergency departments at Mercy, West Penn, Presbyterian University, Magee, Eye and Ear and Children's Hospitals. Residents also work with the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS and fly on STAT MedEvac helicopters. STAT MedEvac, a service of the Center for Emergency Medicine, provides air medical transport to patients with critical illnesses and/or injuries. Each of STAT MedEvac's helicopters are staffed 24-hours a day with an EMS pilot and a two-person medical crew including a nurse, paramedic or physician. Emed Health was created in 2003 through start-up funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to determine how EMS agencies could function within the public health system. Emed Health focuses on preventive health care services and disease management for patients with chronic illnesses. As a consortium, the Center for Emergency Medicine is a unique model of success -- an advanced system of emergency transport, clinical care, education and research governed by a group of tertiary care and community hospitals and a leading university in concert with a major metropolitan municipality. The Center has become the world's leading institute for the advancement of emergency medicine research, education, and most importantly, patient care. |
