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On Wednesday, Sept. 15, Henderson County commissioners approved the addition of seven EMS positions as the department deals with a staffing shortage.
Henderson County EMS will get two new vacation/sick relief positions, as well as five full-time positions. It’ll cost the county about $455,000 in American Rescue Plan funding.
Emergency Services Director Jimmy Brissie said the new positions are a great investment in the community and a great relief to his staff. He said they’ve always relied on some overtime to keep some ambulances staffed, but with fatigue setting in and quarantines keeping some staff out of commission temporarily, fewer are willing or able to work extra.
“Folks have worked overtime a lot over the past year, and they’re just, frankly, they’re tired,” Brissie said.
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Not to mention, COVID-19 calls are increasing again. EMS crews are responding to an average of four suspected COVID calls a day now.
“It kind of increases that base level of stress our staff are feeling every day, and that’s why folks are less willing to work as many overtime shifts. They need a mental and physical break from things,” Brissie said.
Those issues have forced them to take ambulances off the road from time to time.
“Over the past four months, we’ve had to take a truck out of service 87 times,” Brissie said.
He said they typically try to run eight trucks during the day and six at night. Most of the trucks taken out of service have been during the day.
“If we have more folks who are out during a given day, we have a roster where we hold someone over from the previous day to make sure we’re keeping at least seven trucks on the road during the day and six trucks on the road at night,” he said.
He said it’s affecting response times, more so in rural, less-populated areas.
“It’s a ripple effect, the way I describe it. Anytime you take a resource out of play, then it’s going to have a ripple effect throughout the system. So, we have seen some changes in response times. Fortunately, they’ve not been in the busier areas,” Brissie said.
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High turnover is also compounding the problem, Brissie added. The stresses of the job and all it demands are causing burnout among some, while others may leave to seek better pay or a new career altogether. EMS has only one vacancy right now, but since 2018, Brissie said there’s been turnover in 24 positions.
“I like to call it an ebb and flow of staffing. Folks are looking for another job, maybe that pays more. We’ve had a number of staff that maybe decided they want to go back to school and further their education, maybe become a PA or a nurse,” he said. “About half of them are going to other careers that pay more, maybe they are going to a private service, maybe they’re going to a hospital that pays more. And then about half of them are what we would call kind of a lifestyle change. Maybe they want to spend more time with family.”
Brissie took all those concerns to county commissioners Wednesday, after which they approved the seven new positions. He said he’s incredibly grateful to county commissioners for recognizing the need. He said the American Rescue Plan funding makes it a perfect time to expand the department as it deals with staffing shortages and a higher call volume in a growing community.
“This is an opportunity where we’re taking our money, the taxpayers’ money and reinvesting it back into the community,” Brissie said. “It’s a good way to use the taxpayers’ money for something that’s going to have an immediate and a lasting impact on our community for years to come.”
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With employers everywhere hiring, Brissie acknowledged, though, that it’ll be tough to quickly fill all seven positions. He’s hoping a salary study will help make them more competitive in the job market.
“We’re very fortunate, our county manager, working under the board of commissioners, has charged our human resources department to do a comprehensive salary study. They’re looking at that to see where we are in the region, both in the public and private sector, to see if there’s an area we can improve,” he said.
Brissie said the county already offers some great benefits, but he hopes the salary study will perhaps result in some higher wages. It’ll likely take months to hire all the open positions, but they’re already getting a head start on recruiting at local colleges and universities.
Click here to apply for a position with Henderson County EMS.
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