Firms provide heartwarming, and body-warming, assist to Mon City couple
Courtesy of Climatech
Andrew and Rae Poroda are getting a new furnace Saturday.
Elizabeth C. Cuthbert
Spouses Andrew and Rae Poroda of Monongahela are feeling loved.
A high efficiency furnace was to be installed in their home today, thanks to a couple of corporate partners who donated the hardware and labor.
Climatech and Lennox are working together on the Feel the Love program, which strives to provide home comfort to families in need. Homeowners are nominated to receive the furnace and the Porodas’ niece, Valerie Wietrzykowski, put forth their name.
“My uncle was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis two years ago,” Wietrzykowski said. “A year and a half later, he had a stroke. His wife is the only one able to work and they struggle every day.
“He’s a wonderful man of faith and is the deacon of our church. On the days that he is well enough, he gives others hope.”
Climatech will install the Lennox furnace and donate all labor and materials.
Young Leader
The Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants presented Elizabeth C. Cuthbert, a CPA from Canonsburg, with a 2018 Young Leader Award. She was recognized for demonstrated leadership skills that will propel her success in a profession committed to protecting the public interest.
Cuthbert is the director of general accounting with Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in Pittsburgh. She also serves on the PICPA Pittsburgh Chapter Member Services Committee.
Cuthbert was honored Sept. 24 at PICPA’s annual Leadership Conference in Harrisburg.
Canonsburg Ambulance honored
Canonsburg Ambulance got a couple of nifty birthday gifts Thursday night: an award and a new vehicle.
The EMS provider, owned by Canonsburg Hospital, was honored for 20 years of service during a dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe. The American Heart Association presented the unit with the Mission: Lifeline® EMS Bronze Level Recognition Award, for implementing AHA measures for treating severe heart attack victims.
Officials from Allegheny Health Network, the parent of Canonsburg Hospital, attended the event along with hospital personnel and other area EMS providers. Canonsburg Ambulance hadn’t previously earned this recognition; it was the only EMS unit from Washington County to be so honored this year.
Louise Urban, president and chief executive officer of Canonsburg Hospital and Jefferson Hospital, said in a statement: “With great skill and compassion, Canonsburg Ambulance has responded to more than 1,000 calls for patients in cardiac arrest over the last 20 years.”
AHN has upgraded four ambulances in the past five years, and Canonsburg Ambulance now has six vehicles in its fleet. The unit had its busiest year in 2017, with more than 5,600 responses.
Robotic partners
Students in the robotics and mechatronics engineering technology programs at California University of Pennsylvania will benefit from Cal U’s new membership in Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing.
Membership with the Pittsburgh-based institute will enable those students to network, learn and innovate. Cal U. is one of 168 corporations and educational institutions to have an ARM membership, and the only school in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education that is a member.
Carnegie Mellon University launched ARM in 2017. It is a nonprofit public-private partnership, funded with $80 million from the Department of Defense and $170 million from public and private organizations.
The ARM membership will give Cal U. students opportunities to work with companies on projects that employ cutting-edge robotic technologies.
Coal firm honored
The company that reclaimed a Washington County mine was one of several firms recognized recently by the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance for converting sites to environmentally sound, usable locations in 2017.
Butler-based Amerikohl Mining Inc. was honored for its work at Chrobak Mine, plus one mine each in Armstrong, Clarion and Indiana counties. Amerikohl’s projects turned 210 acres of unreclaimed land into forestland, pastureland and natural habitat.
Coal Loaders Inc. of Ligonier was honored for the best overall reclamation for the Troy site in Westmoreland County.