Mar. 31—In line with a national shortage of first responders, Bi-County Ambulance, Yuba-Sutter's local emergency medical service (EMS) company, is facing significant staffing shortages for paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT).
Bi-County Ambulance currently staffs 22 paramedics and 35 EMTs, which is half the number needed to operate at full capacity. CEO Alex Bumpus said that the company is currently on-boarding three more paramedics, but the need is still significant.
A 2022 American Ambulance Association study of employee turnover found that 39% of part-time EMT and 55% of part-time paramedic positions went unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates. The turnover rate includes both resignations and firings, but nearly all of the EMTs and paramedics who left did so voluntarily. More than one-third of new hires don't last through their first year, the survey found.
In Bumpus's experience, he has had former paramedics resign to join other fields such as the fire service or nursing. Others have left the EMS industry as a whole due to the amount of stress some face in the field and long hours.
"I have had them leave to go to jobs that pay them less money. I was shocked that I had someone who would take such a large pay cut, but they preferred a different lifestyle. We do see a lot of difficult situations. We run into everybody else's nightmare and it's quite impactful," Bumpus said.
Staffing shortages for EMS workers is not exclusive to the Yuba-Sutter area, said John Poland, regional executive director for the Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS Agency.
This regulatory body oversees EMS services in 10 counties including Yuba and Sutter counties. Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS contracts with ambulance companies to provide services and monitor EMS programs.
The demand for first responders is persisting throughout the United States as many of them are leaving the industry due to high-stress environments exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The pandemic is really where it kind of exploded. It's not just on the EMS side, but the hospital side as well. The (California Department of Public Health) was allowing waivers for nurses, so they didn't allow to have as many nurses in the hospital, and it expanded into the EMS setting," Poland said.
Despite these adjustments, Poland said that Yuba-Sutter's paramedic staffing shortages became apparent by June 2022 when ambulance services could no longer staff every ambulance unit with a paramedic. He believes that stressors exacerbated by the pandemic combined with a general lack of interest in the field from prospective employees contributes to the recent staffing shortage.
"Paramedics have gotten out of the field whether it be COVID or other varying factors. They just decided that it's just not the job for them and they don't want to do it," Poland said.
Staffing shortages are just as prominent statewide, which prevents Bi-County Ambulance and other EMS companies from acquiring more staff from neighboring counties. Poland said that Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS asked every other advanced life support provider in the surrounding area for additional staffing to Yuba-Sutter, but each agency was unable to provide paramedics due to their own staffing shortages, he said.
Ambulance response times have remained the same at around eight minutes in light of the shortage. However, more challenges have been presented through dispatch as Yuba-Sutter paramedics struggle to respond to all 911 calls, even if a paramedic may not be needed.
According to Poland, 911 dispatch centers in Yuba and Sutter counties do not ask callers a series of standardized questions to determine whether a caller is in need of basic life support provided by an EMT or advanced life support from a paramedic.
"The direction was, because of this current staffing issue, is that when a call comes in, if it's a 911 call, it automatically gets a paramedic (advanced life support) ambulance up and to the point where there are no more (advanced life support) ambulances available in the system," Poland said.
Bi-County Ambulance has responded to every call it receives. In the event that all available advanced life support units are occupied, Bumpus said that the company's paramedic supervisor will join a basic life support ambulance to provide additional services.
In response to the staffing shortage, the Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS Agency has worked to provide additional training for EMTs, which allows them to provide more advanced medical services such as administering life saving narcotics or operating defibrillators.
Bumpus said that Bi-County Ambulance has attempted to generate more interest in the EMS field by marketing itself at a competitive rate to potential hires. The company is currently offering paramedics $75,000-95,000 per year plus a $15,000 signing bonus. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median average pay for paramedics as of May 2021 is nearly $47,000 per year and $35,000 per year for EMTs.
Paramedics relocating to either Yuba or Sutter counties for a position are also being offered an additional $5,000, Bumpus said.
"I would hire as many that would come through. I believe in local and I'm trying to raise local. ... I'm really trying to bring local staff that live here, work here and stay here, and I think that is going to be the biggest part in not only increasing, but maintaining personnel," Bumpus said.
