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Biography of Robert (Bob) Fryer & the History of his numerous efforts to help the People in his home town of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. ROBERT (BOB) FRYER of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania
An innovative, regional community leader, city planner, planning commission chairman, pro se attorney, architect, funeral director, funeral home owner, emergency ambulance service owner, emergency ambulance service system designer, a nationally known champion race car driver, and university engineering school teacher. Most of Robert Fryer's efforts and achievements have been to benefit and protect the People in the greater Bridgeville area, and are a result of....
his personal, emotional attachment to the families and children there, during the 40 years he was the region's most often called funeral director, who witnessed the saddest days in the lives of 10's of thousands of residents, being confronted with the deaths of their loved ones.
His efforts on behalf of the public, have been to fundamentally improve "the quality of their lives" by improving the living and economic environment within Bridgeville, where even today, families are paying the highest percentage of their modest, yearly incomes in taxes to the community, compared to all 3 of the adjacent, neighboring communities, yet having no comparable public facilities like.... a community center, athletic, recreational, cultural, free time facilities and programs, that are comparable to the surrounding communities.
These significant obstructions to "becoming personally successful" as a Bridgeville resident, compared to those living in neighboring municipalities, are due to fact there has not been enough money to build the things and hire the administrators who were needed, because of.... the economic collapse of the town's 2 tax revenue producing business districts due to....
A. the failure of Bridgeville officials to not demonstrate even the slightest interest in planning solutions to its enormous, 50 year old, traffic congestion and parking deficiency problems, and requesting funds from federal, state and county agencies to construct them and....
B. the official, 5 decade long, never mentioned policy of Penn DOT officials to refrain from constructing any meaningful roadway improvements on Washington Pike to, from and thru the Bridgeville, South Fayette and Collier business district to end what increased to be the extensive REGIONAL traffic congestion problem, in order to.... discourage the 68,800, highest family income residents in Western Pennsylvania, living in Mt. Lebanon, Scott and Upper St. Clair, in the section of the market area between the Route #19 and the parallel, nearby Washington Pike district, from driving to and purchasing goods and services in the Washington Pike business districts.
FACTS to support that last statement include :
A. In the 1970's, when Interstate Highway #79 was built through South Fayette, Bridgeville & Collier, parallel to and next to Washington PIke, 35,000 potential consumer-motorists a day switched from using Route #19 thru the Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon business districts, to driving to and from Pittsburgh on I-79,
B. the records of the Southwestern Pennsylvania (funding) Commission show that Penn DOT and Allegheny County spent 10's of millions of dollars widening the roads to 4 lanes, that led to the Upper St. Clair & Mt. Lebanon business districts, when there was no traffic congestion problem driving in that direction because 75% of the former motorists had switched to using Interstate Highway #79, that was in the opposite direction.
* The interesting, but unfortunate, destructive decision making pattern of so many Bridgeville officials over a period of 50 years, was their consistently refusing to even slightly offend, the fewest number of the 1800 voters in the town, by having even the smallest portions of the specific properties purchased, that were needed to widen roads or build parking lots ! (The town's largest parking lot was built by the Allegheny County Re-development Authority, and the town's only road widening was built by Penn DOT.)
That way, Bridgeville officials were able to blame the County for purchasing the 5 wooden frame homes and moving the families for the town's largest parking lot, and publicly oppose Penn DOT for 10 years concerning the 150 yard long Washington Avenue widening. Penn DOT moved ahead and built it, anyhow, and Bridgeville tax payers had to pay a $300,000 share of the widening, that Penn DOT had agreed to pay for, if Bridgeville officials had not opposed the project.
**The reason for the self serving absence of support of Bridgeville officials for things like.... building the proposed solutions to the Washington Avenue traffic problem, the re-development of the Baldwin Street business district, a new 50 car parking lot on the vacant land next to the First Commonwealth Bank on Station Street, expanding the Bridgeville Historical Society's building with two 80 foot long, $200,000 1930 railroad passenger cars donated by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, plus a $100,000 grant toward building the parking lot next to the bank for the anticipated increased visitors to the 2 railroad passenger cars and the red caboose floor space expansion proposal, and the outdoor live theater and night movie stage at the East edge of the town's largest parking lot was because.....over a period of 50 years, often a majority of the officials had full time, politically appointed positions at the former Mayview and Woodville state hospitals and Kane county hospital, all of which were with in a 1 mile radius of Bridgeville, and being seen as employees who controlled almost 2,000 county & state votes, enhanced their opportunities for promotions at work. ****************
Bob Fryer's Accomplishments for the Public :
50 years ago, emergency ambulance service in Pennsylvania was one of the worst in America. The Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Western Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Services Institute estimated that 20,000 Pennsylvania residents a year, were unnecessarily losing their lives or being permanently paralyzed as a result of untrained ambulance personal, using the wrong kind of ambulances.
Being confronted with this tragic public safety situation in his own community :
1. Bob first, established the non-profit South Hills Ambulance Service with many better, but not fully, trained emergency medical technicians, and "van" types of ambulances that had the space required to.... perform chest compressions on patients standing in moving ambulances, whose hearts had stopped, and also to administer power assisted breathing.
2. He then, led the establishment of the 1st municipality owned "paramedic operated" emergency ambulance service in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania for the communities of Mt. Lebanon, Dormont, Castle Shannon & Baldwin and acted as its co-director with Mt. Lebanon Police Chief David Varrelman, for 2 years. It is called....Medical Rescue Team South.
The new, 4 community ambulance service and the local "radio command" hospital received a $300,000 grant from the Allegheny County Commissioners.
Bob also invented the "tiered" ambulance service system there, that reduced the costs to the municipalities by 50%, by establishing a 2nd ambulance base in Castle Shannon in the 9 square mile, 4 community coverage area. It was operated by volunteer emergency medical technicians to primarily transport non-life threatening emergency patients to the hospital, and kept the "paramedic operated" ambulances on standby, in the communities 40% more of the time, for the truly life-threatening calls.
In addition, he received a federal patent for a cardio pulmonary resonation seat he designed, that could be attached to the ambulance cots, with the paramedics belted to the seat, that allowed them to be seated and straddle the patient with both of feet on the floor of the ambulance. A Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania medical equipment testing company said it improved rendering chest compressions by 50% in a moving ambulance. * 3. Soon after that, Bob again used his non-profit South Hills Ambulance Service in an attempt to form the 1st "paramedic operated" emergency ambulance service in his home town area of Bridgeville, South Fayette, Collier & Scott.
However, the county commissioners refused to fund this new, proposed "advanced life support" Bridgeville area emergency ambulance service.
Bob then, had 40,000 leaflets printed and distributed to all the families in Bridgeville, South Fayette and Collier, 4 weeks in succession, each week describing a different reason why Bridgeville area residents were entitled to "an equal chance" of surviving life threatening medical and miscellaneous emergencies the same as neighboring communities.
The flood of leaflets also recommended that the area residents switch their voter registrations, away from the dominant political party in Allegheny County, which is exactly what thousands of them started doing.
Soon, the chairman of the county's planning commission cordially met with Bob for dinner, asked him to stop the leaflet distribution, and he received $100,000 for the salaries of the needed 8 paramedics. (Bob later gave his ambulances and 3,000 trips a year ambulance service practice to the public officials in Bridgeville and South Fayette. It's now called the Southbridge Emergency Medical Service.
4. But far more important in improving the level of safety of the general public was "the innovative way" Bob composed the new, greater Bridgeville Area emergency ambulance service because it.... was copied across the State (and eventually in other states), and ended the political stalemate that had been preventing new, effective emergency ambulance service in Pennsylvania.
WHY THE ORIGINAL POLITICAL STALEMATE ABOUT PUBLIC AMBULANCE SAFETY DEVELOPED :
In 1970, the vast majority of the emergency ambulance services in Pennsylvania were operated by 300,000 volunteer fighter fighters.
The owners of the private, for profit, ambulance services had spent decades mis-leading the fire fighters into believing they were not "intelligent enough" to be trained to be medically skilled "paramedics" in order to continue operating their ambulance services, IF THE FEDERAL GUIDELINES BECAME LAW.
Consequently, the fire department officials made it clear to their local, state and federal officials to NOT pass the "federal emergency ambulance service guide lines" into state law.
The political propaganda effort of misinforming the fire fighters and the members of the state legislature, was so well organized by the privately owned ambulance owners, in Western Pennsylvania they formed the Allegheny County Ambulance Association. It's president was the owner of a large Bridgeville ambulance service, and a Bridgeville official.
BOB FRYER'S INNONATIVE SOLUTION TO THE POLITICAL PUBLIC SAFETY AMBULANCE PROBLEM :
He hired the nation's best known team of emergency accident scene and building rescue training instructors, scheduled a 3 day, out door teaching clinic at the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center's parking lot in Collier, and in addition to his own ambulance service's staff members, he invited the members of all 8 of the region's volunteer fire departments from Bridgeville, South Fayette, Collier and Scott.
To contrast the white medical uniforms of his ambulance crews at emergency scenes, he also purchased all the fire department members different, brightly colored, jump suits, (with their department's names lettered on the backs), so at accident or medical rescue scenes the roles of each individual could be instantly recognized by everyone else there.
The fire fighters brought their trucks, motor vehicle accident rescue equipment, high building rescue apparatus, to the 3 day training exercise.
However, the most important thing happened during the following months, was that the additional, various combined training classes of all the ambulance and fire fighting people, resulted in many of the fire fighters applying for the paramedic training classes at St. Clair Hospital, and understanding they WERE certainly capable of learning the more advanced life support medical training to become state certified.
The new, non-threatening ambulance service/fire department teams concept was duplicated across the state and the country, and the Pennsylvania officials moved ahead and passed the federal emergency ambulance service guidelines into law.
5. In regard to Bob's career as a licensed funeral director, he was once selected, as the year's outstanding member of a national funeral directors association (OGR), for creating the 1st funeral home in the country to have its own.... casket company, burial vault company & monument company in order to pass the substantial savings over to the public, and for arranging an information exchange program, study and consulting group of Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital staff members, to evaluate the environment, interior furnishings, colors and funeral services practices in his family's funeral home, so they could improve shortening the families psychological grieving period. The results included.... bright colored furniture, an informal lounge, music, live caged chirping birds, a fish aquarium, and a fire place.
6. In 1980, Bob requested a meeting with 40 of the public officials from the area, and asked them to form a regional "council of governments" to more effectively acquire millions in finding for infrastructure and capital improvement projects in the area. It was named the Chartiers Valley West Council of Governments and today, has 13 municipal members.
7. In 2018, Bob discovered that Bridgeville and South Fayette officials had made a little known agreement with Penn DOT to only widen the existing 33 year old, 4 lane wide, Washington Pike South End bridge over Chartiers Creek between Bridgeville and South Fayette a useless 6 FEET !
A Penn DOT traffic engineer had exaggerated the cost of "moving" the above ground natural gas terminal next to the bridge, and the electric wire between 2 utility poles going across the creek to be $500,000, when Fryer had statements from the gas and electric company officials that the total cost would only be $120,000.
8. Bob made drawings of an alternate 7 lane wide bridge design, added a 2nd left turn stacking lane 150 yards long on to Charters Street, and a left turn stacking from Washington Avenue to Charters Street, and met with the CEO of Penn DOT. The top Penn DOT official apparently agreed with Bob's assessment and arranged a meeting with Bridgeville, South Fayette, Collier and Upper St Clair officials, at which Bob made a graphic presentation about the issue. The 7 LANE bridge is to be built in 2021.
9. For 50 years Penn DOT and public officials in Bridgeville, South Fayette and Collier have commented that "the reason" Washington Avenue was never made 2 lanes and a sidewalk wider from the Bower Hill Road intersection North to the 4 lane width of the road in Collier, to solve the enormous traffic congestion problem, was because...."the officials" of the railroad company who owned the bridge going OVER Washington Avenue there, were un-reasonable and un-compromising.
In 2020, Bob sent a plan to the railroad company officials, illustrating a way to build a duplicate steel beam bridge attached to the existing steel beam bridge, allowing it to be extended over a 2 lane wider Washington Avenue, IN 2 STAGES, THAT WOULD NOT REQUIRE INTERUPTING THE USE OF THE RAILROAD TRACKS. A railroad company official called Bob and tentatively agreed to his Plan.
10. In 2016, in regard to the repeated suffering and the deterioration of health of the hundreds of Bridgeville families who were being repeatedly flooded by the Mc Laughlin Run Creek, Bob conducted his own study that required wading into the creek to measure the "openings" of the 5 bridges (and 1 culvert) the flood water volume had to flow under.
His measurements and conclusions concerning the CAUSE of the flooding were the same as a 1980 study done by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the 1999 study done by the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering. The "overpass" of the creek with the smallest opening was the Commercial Street CULVERT, (not the Bower Hill Road bridge.)
11. In regard to Bob's career as a licensed funeral director, he was once selected, as the year's outstanding member of a national funeral directors association (OGR), for creating the 1st funeral home in the country to have its own.... casket company, burial vault company & monument company in order to pass the substantial savings over to the public and for arranging an information exchange program, study and consulting group of Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital staff members, to evaluate the environment, interior furnishings, colors and funeral services practices in his family's funeral home, so they could improve shortening the families psychological grieving period. The results included.... bright colored furniture, an informal lounge, music, Rockwell wall paintings, live caged chirping birds, a fish aquarium, and a fire place.
12. Bob formed the 1st college auto racing team in America at the University of Pittsburgh for 13 years, that won the Sports Car Championship of North Eastern United States 3 times, with Bob as the driver of its Chevrolet Corvette, Trans-Am Camaro, Trans-Am Penske AMC Javelin, and generating $30,000,000 in national publicity for the university.
Some of the most notable education experts recognized the team to be an excellent teaching device for the hundreds of students, by motivating them to devise high performance engineering innovations for the race cars, to perfectly perform a range of complicated tasks in a short periods of time under somewhat dangerous conditions at the race tracks, and staff an administrative office on campus to co-ordinate the team's television, radio, magazine and newspaper coverage, in addition to making the race week ends transportation and housing arrangements for its members and the other students that were bused along with the team as spectators.
13. He was presented with an award, at one of the annual, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Newspaper's Sports Awards banquets for.... winning the Sports Car Club of America's Northeastern United States Championship 3 times, setting the fastest lap records at the Daytona Speedway, Watkins Glen, New York track, Pocono, Pennsylvania, the Road Atlanta and the Mid-Ohio race tracks. He was also given the local SCCA's Outstanding Driver of the Year award.
14. Bob submitted a design for the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It included a 4 mile high, vertical light beam that would have been seen and remembered by every airplane passenger in the tri-state area, was considered one of the better designs and its illustration was printed in regional newspapers.
15. He was presented with the "Citizen of the Year" award for his efforts to help the community by the Bridgeville American Legion.
16. The news media covered the award presentation from Mount Lebanon, Dormont, Castle Shannon & Baldwin officials to Bob, for leading the establishment of Medical Rescue Team South, the first municipally owned "paramedic operated" emergency ambulance service in Allegheny County.
17. As a funeral director, he became the 1st funeral home owner in the Southwest area of Allegheny County, to invite African-American families to have their visitations and funeral services at his funeral home. Up until this time, the dozens of other funeral homes in the Region, required the deceased loved ones of black families to"lie in state"at the churches of the African-American families, where they received their friends and family members, and where the usually protestant funeral services were also conducted. Bob was also the 1st to hire black employees as members of his funeral home's staff.
18. He went thru the interesting difficulty of transforming the triangle shaped parcel of land on Station Street, next to the railroad tracks, across from the First Commonwealth Bank from a lot where taxis parked, into a sitting park in the center of Bridgeville's business district.... by 1st persuading the railroad company to sell the land, Bridgeville Council to buy it, and preventing a Bridgeville official (who was also a board member of the former bank across the street from the parcel of land), from covertly attempting to buy the land from the railroad company as a parking lot for the bank, before Bridgeville Council could.
19. 5 years ago, Bob provided drawings to Penn DOT proposing the addition of "a 2nd, 12 car long, left turn stacking lane" on to Greentree Road between the railroad tunnel and the Washington Pike intersection. (After about a year, a Penn DOT engineer called to tell him they decided to add the additional lane, and did.)
There are FOUR 3 mile long, East/West roads between the business districts along North/South Route #19 and the business districts along North/South Washington Pike. They are.... Greentree/Cochran Road, Painters Run/Gilkeson Road, Bower Hill Road, McLaughlin Run Road and Boyce Road.
Having the additional Greentree/Cochran Road left turn stacking lane built was an important public statement in a sense, exposing the state and county's policy of widening and improving the Eastern halves of the 4 major, East/West roads leading to the Route #19 business districts, but leaving the Western halves of the same roads leading to the Washington Pike business districts congested with traffic.
Robert Fryer's family heritage and wide range of varied personal experiences best explain his lifelong, almost obsessive efforts to improve the lives and opportunities of the families, children and business owners in his small hometown of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.
As a former Bridgeville Planning Commission Chairman and just a concerned citizen, he succeeded in promoting city planning improvements that included:
Fryer’s also credited with promoting the creation of the Region's 1st "paramedic operated" emergency ambulance service, that his family later gave to officials in South Fayette and Bridgeville. It was called the South Hills Ambulance Service and today is known as the Southbridge Emergency Medical Service.
He also led the development, as the co- executive director of the first municipally owned and "paramedic operated" emergency ambulance for Mt. Lebanon, Dormont, Castle Shannon and Baldwin. He invented the now universally copied "tiered" emergency ambulance service concept, after learning that the "life-saving" paramedics were spending 40% of their time at the hospitals, and not in their respective communities ready for the next call. He had a 2nd base established in center of the other half of the defined multi-community area with an "ordinary" ambulance, operated by volunteer basic emergency medical technicians, to transport "non-life threated" patients to the hospitals. This kept the paramedics and their "advanced life support" ambulances on standby with in the communities 40% longer every day and night.
Other accomplishments include:
As an owner of what became the largest funeral home in the greater Bridgeville area most of his life, Bob has stated, written and published many times, the opinion that explains the most important and most fundamental purpose to which he has dedicated his life:
"In the smallest towns and the largest cities around the world, there are millions of seemingly ordinary, yet truly great individuals, that are rarely recognized by even their next-door neighbors, and often by only by a few members of their own families."
His concern for the families and children in his small, modest annual income community, has never waived and he continues to fight for the families of Bridgeville.