Organization of current and former EMS workers sound the alarm about crisis in Pennsylvania
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — An organization of current and former EMS professionals is sounding the alarm on the crisis facing EMS agencies across Pennsylvania.
It's a patchwork quilt of some 1,200 agencies responding to 2.5 million medical emergency calls a year. But the EMS system in Pennsylvania has become torn and frayed. Understaffed and underfunded, EMTs and paramedics are feeling the strain of keeping up with the volume of calls.
"Some calls roll off your back. Other calls stick with you," Shawn Penzera of Mutual Aid EMS said.
In recent years, some agencies — like Jeannette EMS — have buckled under the financial strain and closed up for good, leaving other struggling departments to fill the void. As a result, response times are increasing across the state — from 15 to 17 minutes.
Ken Bacha of Mutual Aid said its response times have also increased by two minutes.
Bacha: "They've gone up two minutes in the last couple of years."
KDKA-TV's Andy Sheehan: "And two minutes is critical."
Bacha: "Absolutely."
The problems are the same all over. While EMS agencies rely on insurance reimbursements for their very survival, they cover only 60 percent of the costs. Operating on deficits, they find it increasingly hard to maintain equipment and to recruit, train and retain EMTs and paramedics, who are leaving the profession much faster than they can be replaced.
"We can't find volunteers or people who want to become EMTs," said Vern James of Tionesta Ambulance.
In the face of crisis, a new organization of current and former EMS professionals is sounding the alarm. Citizens Concerned for EMS is bringing its message to local, county and state leaders, making the case that reliable emergency medical response should be provided across the state. In its words: "Ensuring if you live is not dependent on where you live."
"The difficulties in running an EMS agency today when you're facing significant financial issues of paying for equipment, paying for staff and where do we go for that support," said Eric Schmidt, chief of Shaler Hampton EMS and CC4EMS member.
Citizens Concerned for EMS and the Allegheny County EMS Chiefs Association put those concerns to Allegheny County executive candidates Sara Innamorato and Joe Rockey. Perhaps the greatest problem, they say, is the public perception that EMS is paid for.
"People just assume we're too going to be there," Schmidt said.
While some municipal governments support their EMS agency, the fact is most don't. Recently, Ross and West View decided to assess each household in the region with a $55 EMS fee to cover the costs insurance doesn't. The chiefs said without these and other new funding sources, more EMS agencies will go under and the public will be at greater and greater risk.
"We have to work with municipalities, the county, the state, everybody, to hopefully get people to take a piece of the pie and make us a whole and viable entity moving forward," Schmidt said.
In short, EMS first responders who provide life-saving to the general public now are in dire need of the public's support.
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