The Beloit Fire Department and other emergency agencies across state and country have been challenged by labor shortages. Those shortages have hit volunteer EMS agencies particularly hard.
JANESVILLE—Across Wisconsin, fire departments and emergency medical service (EMS) agencies have a people problem—a major people problem.
They don’t have enough of them. They are struggling to hire and retain paramedics, firefighters and emergency technicians.
The problem is so acute that some volunteer fire and EMS departments don’t have enough personnel to respond to 911 calls. Some of those agencies face going out of business and the shortages also impact neighboring departments in some larger communities facing their own personnel shortages.
“They just don’t have the staff,†said Jim Ponkauskas, chief of the Janesville Fire Department. “When the phone goes off they don’t have anybody to respond. ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ the career departments that are being summoned after that to respond and cover.â€
Others across the region and state concur.
“Everybody is just in fear of not being able to get an ambulance out the door,†said Randy Pickering, chief of the Edgerton Fire Protection District, which provides service across 220 square miles in Rock, Dane and Jefferson counties.
There are all kinds of factors conspiring against departments’ hiring and retention efforts—both in Wisconsin and nationally. Those include low pay for volunteers, the economic pressures of the pandemic and now inflation wave—and too many employers chasing too few workers.
“We have a hard time recruiting people,†said Russ Schafer, chief of the Lodi Area EMS agency.
Firefighters, EMTs and paramedics all go through significant training including for volunteer positions.
Watertown FD
Double-edged sword
Schafer said increases with required training and certifications for volunteer workers have proven to be part of the staffing challenges.
“As they increase our education requirements it gets harder for people to do it on a volunteer basis,†Schafer said. “ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ not really conducive to someone who want do it a couple times a month.â€
Volunteer EMT certifications are required to take a semester-long, twice per week basic training course at an approved education center which include tech colleges around the state. They also to have pass a state test and maintain certification with additional and refresher training. Most paid fire and EMS departments require associateÃÛèÖÊÓƵ or bachelorÃÛèÖÊÓƵ degrees and/or significant experience in the field.
“It takes a lot just to get in even at the volunteer level,†said Travis Teesch, fire chief for the city of Watertown.
Schafer said LodiÃÛèÖÊÓƵ EMS is made up of a combination of paid and volunteer workers (who received stipends for being on-call and on-premise).
“We pretty much hire on a continuing basis,†said Schafer who has racked up significant hours this year in the face of staffing shortages.
He said increases in training requirements have had benefits but proposals need to be weighed
“ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ double-edge sword,†Schafer said. “We are proving better care. We are getting better outcomes.â€
While the labor situation is bad for paid departments, it is even worse for volunteer agencies who pay small stipends as low as $3 per hour without benefits.
They have essentially become training grounds for EMTs and others on career paths.
“They get some experience, then they move onto become paramedics,†Schafer said. “ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ great for them. It just kind of creates a revolving door. You can rely on people for a year or two run.â€
Ponkauskas said he was a volunteer for 13 years and has also seen more entry level paramedics and technicians use their time at a volunteer department to build up experience and gain training for a paid career.
But shortages are so extreme that some volunteers are taking shifts with multiple departments in order to gain experience.
“There aren’t enough calls to get the experience they need. They are on two, three sometime, four volunteer departments,†he said.
Emergency management services (EMS) agencies and fire departments across the country are facing sometimes critical labor shortages.
John Minchillo
Widespread openings
It is not just the volunteer EMS agencies struggling with staffing. Paid fire departments are also feeling the personnel pinch.
Daniel Pease, fire chief for the city and town of Beloit said his department— like other agencies across the country and state—recently faced a spate of retirements with an aging workforce.
“We’ve had a lot of retirements,†said Pease, who added the department had just filled four positions. In total, it has 57 frontline personnel and four administrative positions.
There are 2.1 million openings in health care and social service jobs and another $565,000 in state and local government jobs nationwide, according September data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There more than 10.7 million open position across the U.S. economy, according to the federal economic agency.
Some EMS workers have also been taking jobs at hospitals that are in need of emergency room staff and have been jumping to other departments.
“We are also fighting our neighbors,†said Schafer. “We all battle over the same pool of individuals.
Municipal agencies and nonprofit volunteer EMS and fire groups have been trying to raise compensation levels. Some volunteer groups have raised pay levels to $15 to $18 per hour for certain EMTs. Career fire departments have also looked to increase pay more than $50,000 with bonuses for workers who stay on the job after a year or 18 months.
Increased calls
Pease said many agencies, across the state, are seeing increased calls as life expectancy extends as well as some assisted living and other nursing home-type settings. A number of agencies report increases in calls of 30% or more.
“People are living longer and there is more assisted care,†Pease said.
The Beloit chief said some nursing homes don’t always have staff onsite to handle certain health situations and will call 911. Paramedics and firefighters will also respond to calls for assistance from seniors and the chronically ill for breathing and other problems.
The dynamic creates a double whammy, according to Randy Pickering, in Edgerton. He said call volumes have increased while the labor pool for EMS jobs has dwindled. “That has just dried up,†Pickering said.
The Beloit Fire Department and other emergency agencies across state and country have been challenged by labor shortages. Those shortages have hit volunteer EMS agencies particularly hard.
File photo
Inflation and supply chains
Inflation and supply shortages for equipment and emergency vehicles continue to confront public safety and emergency agencies across the state and country.n Those higher capital costs bite into the ability to raise pay for frontline and administrative workers.
DeYoung said EMS groups across the state have seen costs increase 30% to 40% with 12 to 24-month waits for monitors.
In Edgerton, Pickering said supply chain shortages are resulting in lengthy delays—some 18 to 24 months—to get equipment such as stair stretchers and vehicles.
ThatÃÛèÖÊÓƵ an impact being felt from large city departments to smaller, already stretched-thin volunteer groups serving small towns and rural expanses.
Volunteer and career EMS and fire departments across the state are facing labor shortages.
Lodi Area EMS
The latest consumer price index released Nov. 10 shows motor vehicle prices are up 8.4% from a year ago and medical equipment up 5.1%.
Energy prices are up 17.6% from a year ago, with local emergency agencies stressed by record high fuel prices earlier this year.
“Equipment has increased significantly,†said Pease. “We used to pay under $150,000 for an ambulance and now they are costing in the $320,000 range.â€
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