Paramedic Shortage Strains Maryland County

Feb. 10--A decision to shift staff among the county's seven emergency medic units will leave four stations without 24-hour coverage. Beginning Saturday, the Urbana, Myersville and Libertytown Fire Companies and the Thurmont Ambulance Company will have a four-hour window each day when a medic unit is unavailable.

While ambulances are staffed by emergency medical technicians, medic units that follow ambulances are staffed by EMTintermediate or EMT-paramedics. About a third of ambulance calls require a medic unit, said Richard Himes, chief of the county's bureau of emergency medical services. Medic units have training in advanced life support. Staff from the county's Division of Fire and Rescue Services, the Bureau of Operations and the Division of Emergency Medical Services looked at five alternatives for changes to the advanced life support program before moving forward with the change, Himes said.

Himes said it comes down to a shortage of affordable paramedics. "If you call any fire station in the state and ask them if they have enough paramedics they're going to say no," he said. "We're trying to utilize people the best way we can."

The division issued the order Monday, but stations were not notified until Wednesday because of "administrative snags," Himes said. Fire chiefs were not consulted ahead of time.

John Main, deputy chief of the Urbana Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, said the division did not seek input from the company. "It's the decision that they made and we have to live with it," he said. The decision addresses the high call volume at City of Frederick stations, which receive about 80 percent of advanced life support calls, he said.

"We have one unit that's running between 4,000 and 5,000 [calls] a year, and that's an extremely heavy call load," he said.

Fire companies that will benefit from the shift include the

United/Westview Fire Station on New Design Road, Junior Fire Company on North Market Street and Medic 20 in Jefferson. Main said the reduction in services, from 6 to 10 a.m., comes at a bad time.

"It leaves us at a very vulnerable time of the morning, with rush-hour conditions around here," he said.

Himes, however, said reduced coverage will fall at the time stations receive the fewest calls and it will be at the four fire companies with the lowest call volume.

Five of the county's medical units will be available at all times, he added, and two bordering units will be unavailable at the same time. Libertytown Fire Company chief Darrell Johnson said relying on other medic units will lengthen response time.

"It just takes longer to get there," he said. "It's common sense." The change will mean two or three paramedics will man a shift in the city, while there are different units around the county sitting empty, Johnson said.

Johnson said he understands it's hard to find advanced life support providers when neighboring urban counties can pay more. "It all boils down to dollars and cents," he said.

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