Continued shortage, strain on Eagle leads to staffing proposal
By Heather Ruenz
Editor
In an effort to provide a solution to the continued shortage of emergency medical service personnel, the Palmyra Village Board approved a $30,000 proposal and increases to the on-call pay rates at its Sept. 8 meeting.
Several members of the department resigned in May when then-Fire Chief James “Marshall” Lewis and EMS Captain Tracy James were placed on administrative leave. James’ employment has since been terminated while Lewis’ is pending a hearing before the village’s Police and Fire Commission.
To ensure a full crew has been responding to emergency calls in Palmyra, members of the Village of Eagle Fire Department been paged out simultaneously – an agreement now nearing its fourth month.
James Small, police chief and public safety director in Palmyra, said the agreement was intended to be temporary and anytime Palmyra had a full crew respond, the Eagle crew responding was cancelled.
“We can’t stay with Eagle forever,” Small said. “I think we’ve doubled their call volume and can’t keep doing that.”
In his proposal, Small addressed the on-going issues at the Village of Palmyra Fire and Rescue Department with the Village Board.
“As you are aware, ambulance staffing is a critical issue for the village. Since early July, the Eagle Fire Department has been assisting in providing primary coverage to us,” Small said.
Small said Eagle Fire Commission members asked him “to provide them with a plan to eliminate the use of their resources due to concerns that we are creating increased volume for their crews.”
Small said an EMS system needs its focus to be placed on reliability – providing one primary ambulance for every call 24 hours a day.
“This proposal seeks to immediately address reliability,” Small said.
The proposal includes changing the current pay structure for EMS personnel in Palmyra to include $9 an hour on-premise (at the station) pay and an on-call rate of $3 an hour.
The reason for the increases, according to Small, is to encourage people from outside of the area to be present at the station waiting for calls to arise.
“This rate is currently paid by the Clinton Fire Department under a similar system,” Small said.
Currently, he said, the on-call pay – for personnel that remain in the response area and respond to the station or the scene – is $1 an hour.
“It has been historically difficult to have people sign up,” Small said. “In creating this system I plan on eliminating the current practice that every call allows anyone to respond.” Under the new staffing scenario, the primary crew will respond but additional personnel will be called only if requested.
Small said the goal is to have the EMS staffing plan in place Oct. 1 or as soon as he has recruited enough people to ensure coverage.
The Village Board unanimously approved the proposal on a motion by Trustee Bill Lurvey.
Small said he will include future funds for staffing in the budget beginning with next year’s budget.
Proposal details
In an effort to address the issues quickly, Small’s proposal gives him the authority to hire EMS personnel. He can also require participation expectations of EMTs.
The breakdown of the proposal includes:
- Up to $30,000 for personnel and recruitment costs through Dec. 31 with the understanding that any remaining funds not be allocated to other expenses;
- Initiating recruitment and hiring of EMS personnel. Any hired personnel who are firefighter certified (in addition to EMTs) will be sent through the village’s Police and Fire Commission at a later date;
- Personnel added to, and removed from the department’s roster will be reported to the Village Board each month, but Small has the authority to hire in lieu of appointment by the board;
- Require every EMT on the Palmyra roster to complete at least 24 hours of on-call and/or on-premise time each month. The EMS supervisor will be required to spend at least 24 hours on-premise weekly providing coverage.
The total number of hours needing to be staffed by two personnel, 24 hours a day for 92 days – Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 – is 4,416, according to Small. That brings the cost of the proposal to nearly $43,000 but there remains money in the budget for EMS personnel, which will help offset the proposed cost.
Eagle a good neighbor
In August, Eagle Village President Richard Spurrell, also a member of Eagle’s Fire Commission, told the Palmyra Village Board that while details were not needed, the commission did want to know what the plan for Palmyra was going forward.
Spurrell said at the time it was “in no way an ultimatum. We’re here to help and we understand that patient care is the highest priority.” But, he said, there are minor concerns in Eagle about burnout.
“This won’t bust our budget and if we’re ever in the same position we would appreciate it if you’ll do the same,” Spurrell said.
In addition to questions about how long the agreement with Eagle was going to remain in place, there have also been concerns about response times.
In an effort to determine where the response times were falling, Small generated reports from the village’s records management system earlier this month. The reports take all calls – fire, rescue and mutual aid – into consideration and include Eagle in the instances they’ve been involved
The times, on average, were consistent with what they had been earlier this year, and better than last year’s averages. The first five months of this year, the average time from dispatch to en route was 6 minutes, 14 seconds. From May 1 to Sept. 1, that time was 6:25. In 2014, the average was 6:37.
From Jan. 1 to May 1 of this year, the average time from dispatch to on scene was 8:22. From May 1 to Sept. 1, it was 9:03. Last year that average was 9:08.
“I understand the concerns, I really do, but if you look at these numbers, generated directly from our records management system, the times are good,” Small said.
An attempt to reach Eagle EMS Captain Steve Wilton prior to press time was unsuccessful.
