Volunteer losses, calls spike puts mounting pressure on these first responders

Some local ambulance corps and other emergency service providers have been affected by the national shortage of emergency medical technicians.

Christopher Napolitano, executive director of the Town of Newburgh Emergency Medical Services, said in the past they would get 15 or 20 applicants every time they advertised an open position.

"Now we just get a few," Napolitano said. "If I could hire more people, I would."

A survey by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians issued earlier this year found workforce shortages, skyrocketing costs, supply chain disruptions and reduced insurance reimbursement levels have combined to put many EMS agencies in critical condition.

While local agencies are not painting such dire pictures, they are feeling the impact of EMT shortages.

"Since COVID, a lot of EMTs aren't sure they want to do it anymore," said Wayne Chan, president of the Monroe Volunteer Ambulance Corps. "A lot quit."

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Why ambulance services are seeing fewer volunteers

Both Napolitano's and Chan's squads are considered hybrids.

In the old days, a volunteer ambulance corps was just that — all volunteers.

But in more recent years, with a lack of volunteers and increases in the number of skills needed, many now pay some of their paramedics and other EMTs.

And Chan said the pay scale is "terrible."

"They don't get paid a lot of money for what they do," Chan said. "I don't know how they support a family."

He said pay rates range from $18 to $24 an hour. Napolitano quoted similar numbers, starting at $18.50 an hour, then ranging up to $22 to $25 an hour for those with some experience under their belts.

How finances cripple EMS retention efforts

Once a local corps gets an EMT, another challenge is keeping them. Not everyone is planning to be with their local ambulance corps long-term.

"I get a lot of young kids who see it as a stepping stone to medical school," Chan said.

And those who run the local corps also have to keep an eye on the finances.

Napolitano said the Town of Newburgh EMS budget is about $2.4 million a year. Of that, only $386,000 comes from town government. The rest comes from fundraising drives, grants and the like. Napolitano said they explore every possibility.

One thing that works against local ambulance corps getting all the funding they need, Napolitano said, is that under state law, emergency medical services are still considered a non-essential service.

While police must be provided — either by the individual municipality, a neighboring community or the county — and fire service, too, there is no parallel requirement to provide ambulance service.

Emergency calls on the rise in Hudson Valley

But there certainly is a need for them. Napolitano said Town of Newburgh EMS has answered 4,300 calls so far this year, including at least one high-profile event: the fatal crash on Interstate 84 of a bus carrying Farmingdale high school students to a band camp in Pennsylvania.

Napolitano said the number of calls has almost doubled in the six years he's been director. It used to be only 2,000 or 3,000 a year.

The NAEMT survey found applications for paramedic and EMT positions are down an average of 13% nationwide since fiscal year 2019, the year before the pandemic.

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Nearly two-thirds of agencies reported a decrease in applications, and 27% of those reported the decline was more than 25%.

Costs of wages were up 11% and costs for equipment and supplies were up 12% between 2019 and 2022, and respondents to the survey predicted those rates would continue or be even higher through 2026.

The NAEMT also said staff shortages at hospitals and other healthcare systems are adding to the strain, because they often hire EMS personnel at higher wages than EMS agencies can afford to pay.

For those who don't make emergency medical service a full-time career — the traditional volunteers — the biggest thing driving them away might still be human nature.

"It's hard for a volunteer who has a full-time job," Chan said. "I did it for 27 years, but I missed a lot of my kids' games and things like that along the way."

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: NY EMS crews face mounting pressure as volunteers drop, calls rise