Fire chief points to ‘severe personnel shortage’
By William C. Bayne
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright 2006 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
Citing personnel shortages, Horn Lake had no ambulance service Saturday or Sunday and had only one of its two ambulances running Monday.
Fire Chief David Linville said he’s hoping a paramedic can be hired when the Board of Aldermen meets this evening, but even with that possible hire, the city most likely will have its ambulances parked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
“It’s not that we’re not answering calls,” he said Monday afternoon. “I have EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) on every fire truck, and we’re responding to all calls.”
Emergency Medical Technicians have extensive first aid training, but they are limited by state law on what they can do.
Linville said, “We have a severe personnel shortage and we’ve had that for about two months. You can’t put them (paramedics) in the ambulance if you don’t have them available.”
Robert Baker, a homeowner and critic, said he visited the fire stations on Tulane and U.S. 51 Sunday and Monday.
“Neither of the ambulances was working,” he said. “We’ve got all kinds of tax money tied up in the ambulances, but they’re parked.”
Linville said both Horn Lake ambulances are licensed for advanced life support - ALS - meaning that the ambulances have certified paramedics on board who can use sophisticated medical equipment and administer certain drugs when needed.
“Our license requires that we have the paramedics if we make a call,” he said. “When a paramedic has been needed, we’ve passed the calls on to Walls and Southaven. It’s not like we’re missing calls.”
As of Monday, Linville said the city had one licensed paramedic as a full-time employee. The city complement is six.
“We’ve been able to hire some contract workers to fill in, but they’re only available when they’re not working their regular job,” he said.
The proposed hire of a new paramedic tonight coupled with a prospective additional hire in January would ease the shortage somewhat, but Linville said he expects the overall paramedic shortage to continue well into 2007.
“I’ve done everything I can to try to find more paramedics,” he said. “We’ve advertised. We’ve posted the job openings on the Internet. We’ve talked with some of the contract workers.
“But it’s tough to try to convince paramedics to come work for us when they can make $50 to $60 a day more working elsewhere.”
Horn Lake’s paramedics make $11.26 an hour for a 24-hour shift. In Southaven and Olive Branch, Linville said the pay is more than $13 an hour.
It’s even more in Memphis and Shelby County, he said.