Prehospital Care Services at Allegheny General Hospital

Allegheny General Prehospital Care Services Program provides medical direction and education to EMS providers throughout the Tri-State area.

The medical direction protocols utilized by the entire Allegheny Health Network affiliated structure provide for progressive medical treatment and allow paramedics ample latitude to effectively treat patients and directly influence outcomes. In addition, all CQI and command authorization initiatives are shared across the system.

Each of the individuals involved in AGH’s Prehospital Services are not only currently certified as paramedics, but remain active in the provision of prehospital care.

AGH Medical Direction

As a tertiary care hospital with a residency in Emergency Medicine, AGH is intimately involved in providing medical direction & education throughout SW Pennsylvania. With a staff of dedicated emergency medicine physicians and pre-hospital support staff, we provide medical direction to more than 300 paramedics from 19 EMS agencies in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia. All of our pre-hospital services staff are still actively involved in providing EMS care "in the streets" and average more than 25 years of experience in EMS in the clinical, educational, and management ranks.

Services that are related to our medical command and clinical capabilities include:

Contact us

Allegheny General Hospital Prehospital Care Services
320 E North Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Chadd E. Nesbit MD, PhD
System EMS Director 
Chadd.Nesbit@ahn.org

Matthew Poremba, DO, FACEP
Medical Director, LifeFlight and Prehospital Care Services
(412) 228-7813
Matthew.Poremba@ahn.org

James Palafoutas, EMT-P
Director, Prehospital Care Operations
LifeFlight, Prehospital Operations
(412) 359-6635
Jim.Palafoutas@ahn.org

Mike Gannon, EMT-P, NCEE
EMS Program Coordinator
AHA Training Center Coordinator
(412) 359-3923
Mike.Gannon@ahn.org

Rhonda Shepard
Prehospital Education Coordinator
EMS Training and Coordination
(412) 359-8603
Rhonda.Shepard@ahn.org

Mary Kovac, BS, EMT-P
Prehospital Care Coordinator
(412) 585-4275
Mary.Kovac@ahn.org

Matt Lambert, NRP
Prehospital Business Development Specialist
(412) 266-2061
Matthew.Lambert@ahn.org