Wis. EMS Agency Looking to Firefighters for Staffing Help

Aug. 19--EVANSVILLE -- Evansville leaders are in early talks about training volunteer firefighters to become first responders to help staff the city's ambulances and improve response times.

The idea also could be aided by proposed statewide changes that would help small fire departments, which are struggling to find enough volunteers, especially during the day.

"There's an increase in demand on the volunteers--they have to have the same amount of training and licensure that a full-time department would have to have," said Mindy Allen, executive director of the Wisconsin EMS Association.

"The continuing education alone continues to increase, but the amount of volunteers that are available, especially during the daytime, is decreasing."

Lawmakers on the Assembly Committee on Health held a hearing Tuesday on a bill that would change the required two EMTs needed to transport a patient to one EMT and one first responder in small communities.

EVANSVILLE TALKS

Evansville EMS, which is a city-run service, has struggled with recruitment and staffing like many volunteer departments. The service always has two EMTs on call, ready to respond with its first ambulance, EMS Coordinator Mary Beaver told The Gazette in May.

Staffing the second ambulance is where problems arose, and response times were as long as 25 minutes for the backup ambulance last fall, officials said. Starting in February, dispatchers began immediately paging mutual aid for calls needing the second ambulance, Beaver said. That change helped improve times, she said in May.

Now, City Administrator Ian Rigg is in talks with Evansville Fire Chief Terry Wendt about training some of the 37 volunteer firefighters to become state-licensed first responders. Rigg said many details are undecided, and no official action has been taken.

Generally, Wendt said, the firefighters are supportive of the idea and willing to work with the EMS to improve patient care. He declined further comment.

EMS can go days without a call, then get calls back-to-back, Rigg said. Having those extra volunteers to respond would improve patient care, he said.

"Minutes matter," Rigg said. "It's trying to shave off minutes on those second-out issues where we don't have enough coverage."

The city's public safety committee has discussed and pushed the idea, and council members said it's worth pursuing, Rigg said. The fire district board and city council would need to approve any proposal.

Rigg said he hopes to gather enough information to begin a discussion at the fire district board's Sept. 1 meeting.

The city has about $5,000 allocated for public safety training in the 2016 budget that could be spent on the training. Rough estimates show it could cost about $250 per person.

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL

The state Senate in June approved the ambulance-staffing bill, which was the product of a task force in northeast Wisconsin that focused on regional solutions to EMS staffing shortages, Allen said.

Stakeholders voiced concerns that the original bill did not have population limits, and the change could result in a downgrade of services for financial reasons rather than staffing issues, she said.

The Senate amended the bill to apply to communities with populations up to 10,000, and those with populations between 10,000 to 20,000 would have to apply for a waiver, she said. The amendment would not apply to communities larger than 20,000 or with paramedic service.

Other states have taken similar actions, and Illinois has a similar amendment, she said.

In Wisconsin, two EMTs are required to transport a patient in an ambulance; first responders cannot. Under the proposal, a first responder could drive the ambulance while one EMT stayed with the patient. A firefighter, police officer or anyone trained in driving operations also could drive, while the first responder and EMT would be required to be with the patient.

Some committee members at Tuesday's hearing didn't think the population requirements were needed, Allen said, but her organization plans to talk with lawmakers about their concerns.

The Wisconsin EMS Association and others had initial concerns the change could be used to downgrade services as a cost-saving measure rather than keeping standards in the best interest of patients, Allen said.

A vote in the Assembly has not been scheduled, but Allen said she believes the bill will pass this year. A lot of work went into the proposal before the Senate vote, and as of Tuesday, no one had testified or registered in opposition to it, she said.

The association also is looking at models in other states and tools such as cross-credentialing responders with neighboring services.

"We understand the recruitment issue is very difficult with smaller services," Allen said. "There are some other types of tools that we believe can be utilized."

EVANSVILLE NOT ALONE

Just last week, The Gazette reported that a consultant's study of the Milton Fire Department found it needed at least four full-time employees, including a full-time chief. The department runs on part-time and on-call firefighters and emergency medical responders.

Many communities operate their fire and EMS departments together as one service. In Evansville, EMS is a city service, and a district board that includes representatives from area towns runs the fire department.

Merging the two has been brought up in long-range talks, Rigg said.

"I think it's going to happen one day, no matter what," he said, though he didn't want to put a timeline on it. The economics and service needs will eventually force the two services to combine, he said, but it will require need and political cooperation.

Reality also might push the city to someday have full-time EMTs, he said.

Many communities across the state are looking at consolidating services and staff because fire departments face staffing issues, too, Allen said.

Copyright 2015 - The Janesville Gazette, Wis.