by Ian Enterline
Emergycare lacking paramedics
27Sep2008 Filed under: Emergycare, Millcreek fire service, Public Safety Author: Ian EnterlineDale Hannah has been doing excellent writing recently on the Erie Police Department’s staffing woes. Read them here.
But another staffing problem has another sector of public safety stretched thin. This story from WICU tells of a paramedic shortage at Emergycare. But the story tells some outright untruths.
It starts out…
Emergycare may remove paramedics from being stationed at rural areas of the county where there are fewer calls, to busier areas, where they are more in demand. It’s all due to a paramedic shortage that is being felt across the country.
Eh, it’s not being felt across the country. In most places outside of Erie, paramedics are making much more money. It is just that most EMS services are municipal based, and can afford to pay their medics what they are worth. In Erie, the hospital-run bill-for-service is not paying off, either for Emergycare or their employees. The fact of the matter is, experience medics are leaving Erie for greener pastures because they can make more money.
Dick Gibbons, the CEO of Emergycare, isn’t going to give it to you though.
Currently there’s about 50 paramedics employed by Emergycare. Gibbons said if ten more walked into his office today, he would hire them on the spot. But, he says, it’s a job you do not do for the money. You do it, he says, because you love it.
Please, come and work for us, but don’t expect to be able to survive on the money you make. And the City of Erie is stretched thin for medics because of it. A very reliable source recently told me:
The other day they (Emergycare) sent the last ambulance out of Erie to Saint Mary’s West (which is in far west Millcreek) while a difficulty breathing sat for 7 minutes in center city with the FD before another ambulance went in service at Hamot and responded. All 3 Millcreek trucks (Millcreek Paramedic Service ambulances) were in service and one of them was much closer.
Is the City of Erie even aware of this? I know this can’t be the first time this has happened. When are we going to take public safety seriously?
10 Responses to “Emergycare lacking paramedics”
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I live in Richmond, VA and work as a firefighter, but I try to make as many trips back to Erie is as humanly and financially feasible.
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Vito Randazzo
September 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Ian,
First, i actually agree with Mr.Gibbions that it is a job that you want to do. I also think you have to make a living as well, i think you bring up an interesting point with medics leaving erie to make more money. Medics are not alone.
In the news you hear about the brain drain in erie and how college graduates are leaving erie. We’ll erie this is reality!!! I think this affects industries across the board. A few years a go I relocated from Erie to Columbus, Ohio. While I moved to columbus, not only did I find a better job but I made almost $10,000 yearly than i did In erie. Unfortunately as corporate business goes, my job was eliminated. Im back in erie and finishing my degree. I always say “Erie a great city to settle down and raise a family, just can’t find a job to support one”.
Sorry for rambling.
Just my 2 cents.
Vito
Sorry
Tim
September 27th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Erie City Council is aware of the difficulties EmergyCare has been having with response times and shortages recently. Remember, this is ERIE CITY COUNCIL we are talking about. They’ll hemm and haww and bluster for the media and the public - but when it comes right down to it nothing will be done about the problem. Why rock the boat when it is much easier to just shut up and do nothing?!
To answer your question, “When are we going to take public safety seriously?” Not in Erie! All they care about is saving a buck or two. Just look at how dangerously understaffed the Erie Police and Erie Fire Department’s are! (Their “TOP” leadership doesn’t help either, or provide much leadership or confidence from their own rank-and-file!)
I would like to see the results if the police and fire unions did a confidence vote regarding their chief’s of department. Oh wait, the Erie PD FOP already did…they want to kick the Chief out. Guess that answers that question!
Dale
September 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Where has City Council been hiding during the past couple weeks while all the murdering and robbing has been taking place, not to mention the mob violence. At least Joe Sinnott was on the scene at some of the trouble spots. I didn’t see any faces from Council anywhere around.
John
September 27th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
The low pay of medics is a regional issue, not just an Erie issue.
Even after factoring in cost-of-living differences, medics in all of northwestern PA, and perhaps the entire western part of the state, earn much less than their counterparts in other areas of the country. My take is also that medics in NW PA are not held in the same professional esteem as they are elsewhere. I’ve never been able to understand why.
It would be interesting to here from some paramedics.
Danny Lucas
September 29th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Even Emergy Care could not help this one.
Nor could a miracle.
On your Blog Roll, Full Frontal Lucidity has finally covered himself up with a shroud. R.I.P. , thankfully.
I suspect two more will bite the dust shortly.
Vacuous thoughts have a tendency to suck the life out of some of these blogs.
TJ
September 30th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I once discussed with a friend as to why EmeryCare has problems and Millcreek Paremedic service doesn’t.
It may not be the ENITIRE problem, but it may be part of it and that is: the areas that Millcreek Paramedic Service covers most often feature insured people in accidents. EmergyCare covers the city where fewer people have health insurance. Now, either company will be paid for their services, either through insurances or Medi-Care. However, the amount that each pays out for emergency trips is different: Medi-Care pays less. So, this causes cash flow problems for Emergy-Care whereas MPS receives almost double the reimbursement for their services.
CRANK
September 30th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
While not specific to Emergycare, Erie is notorious for a high percentage of medical assistance patients, coupled with low reimbursements. Its been a major physician recruitment stumbling block for years, and is not invading other avenues of health care. MPS is not getting rich, nor is WCPA.
Tim
September 30th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
The was a time when American Medical Response (AMR) was considering a purchase of EmergyCare. The corporate officers came to EmergyCare headquarters and looked over all the books and the operation. They were in town for several days doing their “Due Dilligence” on the EmergyCare operation. I guess the deal fell through when AMR realized the City of Erie was not a market that could realize a profit that would pay for an AMR purchase of EmergyCare.
Now if AMR wouldn’t purchase EmergyCare then you know there has to be a problem! The only question is whether the problem is with the high number of patients on medical assistance? low reimbursements? or poor management?
I’m going to take a wild guess and say it is a management problem.
Mikey Z
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:46 am
Part of the problem is around here is that paramedics aren’t considered a “real” profession. Most people don’t see them as much more than ambulance drivers and aren’t on the same league as cops and firemen in terms of respect. In other areas of the country they might be perceived differently but most of those areas have FD-based EMS.
PR
October 16th, 2008 at 7:45 am
The latest word, as published in the PA Fireman, is that Bill Haggerty, Director of Street Operations at ECI, got Paramedic of the Year at the recent PA EMS Council conference. This would be OK if Haggerty were working the streets daily, but he is a manager now and only occasionally works on a truck. ECI has kept this one hush-hush and doesn’t want their employees to know anything about it. This is a real slap in the face to the hard working folks at ECI who are out on the streets day in and day out, working for slave wages. Haggerty, and the moron who nominated him, should be ashamed to accept this award. It just goes to show how little ECI cares about their people.