DEVELOPER OF GREENSBURG’S FIRST DISASTER RESPONSE TEAM AND AMBULANCE SERVICE DIES

A woman who helped to launch the first-ever emergency medical services in Greensburg has died.  Loved ones say Joanne Mertz passed away earlier this week at the age of 93.  Mertz worked as a registered nurse at Westmoreland and Monsour hospitals into the late 1950’s before becoming the director of nursing for the Greensburg Fire Department.  There, she developed the community’s first disaster response team and ambulance service, which evolved into Mutual Aid EMS.