EBENSBURG — The Cambria County commissioners approved a $120,072 emergency management performance grant during their meeting Thursday while recognizing national emergency medical services week.

According to June Kania, Cambria County Emergency Management Agency’s administrative assistant, the grant is used to provide certain exercises, training opportunities and resources that help the EMA program succeed in protecting lives, responding to disasters and keeping the county’s communities safe.

Commissioner Tom Chernisky read the proclamation in honor of national EMS week, highlighting the “crucial” collaboration between dispatchers, paramedics and emergency medical technicians in times of crisis.

“No matter what it is or what time of day, they go out and save lives,” Chernisky said of EMS workers, noting the county’s emergency management team is “great at what they do.”

“If something goes wrong, they’re the ones that keep everything together through disasters and things of that nature,” Chernisky said. “When first responders need help, that’s the communication; that’s the quarterback.”

No one was present at the meeting to accept the proclamation. However, Chernisky said every year the commissioners visit different ambulance stations throughout the county to read the proclamation and deliver a copy to the workers, thanking them for what they do.

It’s a tradition Chernisky started in his second term as a commissioner, he said, adding the commissioners visited about four different locations of ambulance services this week.

“This is EMS week, but every day should be EMS day,” Chernisky said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.