Our conference takes place April 25-30, 2022. Register here. View more conference offerings here.

Emergency medical services (EMS) is a relatively new profession with its foundations in the late 1960s.¹ Today, almost every area of the United States enjoys EMS services, and the general public expects access to EMS. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019) reports that EMS work demands cognitive, physical, and emotional labor in a high-stress and unpredictable work environment. The EMS workforce is distributed among fire departments (48%), private ambulance companies (21%), governmental non-fire agencies (12%), hospitals (11%), air medical (3%), and other (5%) with the vast majority of EMS workers (72%) listing 911 response as their primary job function.²

There is also a significant part of the workforce that is volunteer or pseudo-volunteer. The majority of EMS workers are paid and are employed by municipal fire departments. The median annual salary for this group is $36,450.³ However, there exists a wide variance in the profession with regard to pay depending on geographical location, organization of the employing local government, and tenure. This complex landscape of subcategories within EMS confounds the study of the workforce.

JEMS Con 2022 Preview: Fentanyl Facts and Fiction: A Safety Guide for First Responders

Traditionally, the public sector of the EMS workforce has been the highest paid and has enjoyed low turnover rates.⁴ However, the rate of retention for EMS workers in the public sector has declined dramatically in recent years.⁵ Simultaneously, the demand for EMS services in the U.S. is predicted to continue to increase substantially.³ A thorough understanding of the factors affecting the recruitment and retention of EMS workers is necessary to formulate effective strategies moving forward.

Recruitment

Many U.S. fire departments are finding it increasingly difficult to fill their paramedic positions.⁶ This phenomenon has created a need for EMS directors to delve into the unfamiliar area of recruiting. Many traditional economists would advise that increases in compensation are necessary to solve the problem. However, public service EMS employers are rarely in a position to change compensation packages to meet the needs of the job market. Additionally, compensation is generally limited to the ability of the organization to raise funds. Transport fees for EMS do generate revenue for both public and private providers. However, rates for these fees are tightly controlled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the private healthcare industry. Change in that area is likely to come much too late to solve the current crises in EMS recruitment.⁴ Recruitment solutions may be linked to factors other than compensation.

The main motivator for workers seeking employment in public sector EMS has long been assumed to be exclusively public service motivation.⁷ Public service motivation is an intrinsic motivator that exists in some portion of the population which steers people toward public service jobs to suffice a desire to serve their community. Public service motivation has been well-studied and quantified. Public service motivation is required to fill EMS positions with relatively high job demands and low pay in the traditional rational economic view. Availability of education for EMS workers in

Roswell, GA (March 8th, 2022) – The Roswell Fire Department (RFD) is now utilizing Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) dispatching which uses the vehicle’s GPS location, so dispatchers in the Roswell 911 Emergency Communications Center can identify and dispatch the closest, most appropriate emergency response vehicle to a call for service for our residents. This was achieved through the joint efforts of staff from the City’s Fire Department, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Division, Information Technology Division, and the 911 Emergency Communications Center.

One of the main benefits of this system is the added confidence that the closest emergency response vehicle is being dispatched to the call for service, which reduces response time. This allows fire department personnel to be on the scene of the emergency in the quickest amount of time possible. Another benefit is the added peace of mind that comes from being able to reliably locate Roswell Fire Department crews based on the vehicle’s current GPS location, even if dispatchers or the department’s command staff cannot reach them by radio or cell phone.

Prior to this upgrade, the Roswell 911 Emergency Communications Center would send a fire engine, ladder truck, or rescue ambulance from the station with the closest proximity to the call for service. However, the nearest fire station does not necessarily mean the nearest fire truck or emergency response vehicle. In some cases, the fire apparatus assigned to that station may be out of the station training, conducting area familiarization, or returning from another call for service when a fire or medical emergency is dispatched.

The AVL system is only possible with reliable connectivity between the GPS-based vehicle location data and the City’s Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. To achieve this, the department installed Cradlepoint in-vehicle routers to improve reliable connectivity. The routers continuously and securely communicate the GPS coordinates of the vehicle to the CAD system in the Roswell 911 Emergency Communications Center.

Additionally, at the February 28th meeting, the City of Roswell Mayor and Council approved an Automatic Aid Agreement between the City of Roswell and the Cities of Alpharetta, Milton, Sandy Springs, and Johns Creek. Automatic aid is assistance that is dispatched automatically by contractual agreement between two or more communities to calls for service. Once all of the Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems are compatible, automatic aid will help reduce response times in North Fulton by using AVL dispatch to send the closest emergency response vehicle to a call for service, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries. Doing so will increase Roswell Fire Department’s capacity to respond to large-scale incidents and also ensure that there are no interruptions in existing service while doing so. Another benefit could include a better Public Protection Classification (PPC®) from the Insurance Services Office (ISO). Most U.S. insurers of home and business properties use PPC in calculating premiums. According to ISO, “In general, the price of insurance in a community with a good PPC is lower than in a community with a poor PPC.”

The Fire Departments in North Fulton County have been working together closely to improve partnerships and implement a regional approach to fire and emergency services. The North Fulton Fire Chiefs meet monthly as do the City’s Fire Marshals, Operations Chiefs, Emergency Medical Service Divisions, and Training Divisions. This helps to ensure interoperability, and that the different departments are training together and sharing best practices.

The implementation of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) dispatch and the execution of a North Fulton Automatic

“The West Memphis #winningstreak continues,” the fire department writes on Facebook. “Today the West Memphis Fire Department along with Mayor McClendon and the West Memphis City Council broke ground on the Eason-Lang Training Center that will help prepare the next generation of firefighters to continue providing the best fire and emergency services to the citizens of West Memphis.

“Mayor Marco McClendon and Fire Chief Barry Ealy spoke about WMFD’s commitment to providing our first responders with the best training and the most advanced level of training possible, for all the many emergency challenges that they confront.

“The new Eason-Lang Training Center will be constructed at the all-new Fire Station No. 2 located on College Blvd. The 5,500 square foot center will feature a burn building with live fire training, two flashover areas, including simulators for kitchen and attic fires, multilevel rappelling, fire hydrants, and a hazmat training area for operations involving hazardous materials.”

Read more

• 63
• 0
• Article rating: No rating