By Matthew Thompson
Charleston Daily Mail (West Virginia)
Copyright 2007 Charleston Newspapers
In its 30-year existence, the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance authority has never had a single paramedic retire from it, county officials said.
The strain of the job and the requirements to reach retirement age have discouraged paramedics from sticking around long enough to pull down their benefits, Kanawha County officials say.
No one has retired from the authority even though employees and the authority pay $1 million combined each year into the state’s Public Employee Retirement System.
Now with help from county leaders, the authority has drawn up a bill for a new 20-year retirement plan for employees.
The plan would reduce the minimum retirement age from 55 to 50. It will also increase the employee contribution each year from 4.5 percent of their paycheck to 8.5 percent.
Right now, to retire, an employee’s years of service and age must equal 80. Under a new plan, that number would be changed to 70.
Authority officials hope the new plan will enable it to keep its current staff and entice younger paramedics to work for the system.
But it will take approval from the state Legislature to achieve the goal.
One of those who could benefit is paramedic Tim Barnett, who has worked 17 years for the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority and wants to retire someday.
The 39-year-old Belle resident is married with four children.
In his tenure, Barnett has dealt with various grisly events from car accidents to murder suicides. Those tasks and the job’s 72-hour work week have put a strain on his aging body.
Under the authority’s current plan, he cannot see a pension for another 16 years.
Barnett is among 250 employees who hope that plan will change.
“When you first start here you’re in your early twenties and you don’t think a lot about retirement,” Barnett said. “Now the way it’s set up, I can’t see it until I am 55. If you add that to the load of the job, I don’t know if I’ll make it.”
Joe Lynch, director of the ambulance authority, said if the measure is adopted about 600 paramedics in county ambulance authorities across the state would benefit.
Lynch said losing personnel to competing entities is the main reason for a change. By comparison, paramedics with the city of Charleston have a 20-year retirement plan.
“Their job has changed so much just in the past 10 years,” Lynch said. “Their experience is so valuable — we just can’t afford to lose them.”
Lynch said the authority had a turnover rate of 16 percent last year. Though it was lower than the 20 percent rate the year before, it’s still a worry for officials, he said.
The starting salary for authority paramedics is about $28,000. A person starting for Charleston’s department starts at about $32,000, Lynch said.
The authority employs 250 people including paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The organization answers emergency calls from surrounding areas of the county from Clendenin to Belle.
The authority transports about 80,000 patients each year.
Paramedic Tennille Davis, a county paramedic for eight years, said she wants to be able to enjoy her retirement when the time comes.
Davis, 32, is married and a mother of two.
Davis said occupational hazards such as increased exposure to communicable disease make it hard to last more than 20 years in the field.
An average paramedic in the authority works about 900 hours of overtime each year, officials said.
“I was just too young when I started here to think about the long term,” Davis said. “When you enter your 30s or 40s, it’s an important time to realize how will you support yourself and others as you get older.”
County Commission President Kent Carper has aided the authority during this recent effort. Last week, the county commission voted to support initiating a bill.
Carper is a former paramedic and currently serves on the authority’s executive board.
“What the real issue is -- is that being a paramedic is a difficult and demanding profession,” Carper said. “Few can do it. It’s no less important than what police and firefighters do.”
Carper said in the coming weeks the authority plans to meet with the county’s legislative delegation and with Gov. Joe Manchin about the plan.
Sheriff Mike Rutherford said he would support the authority in securing a new plan.
In 1994, Rutherford was among many sheriff’s department deputies statewide who successfully lobbied the Legislature to alter its retirement plan to a 20-year model.
Rutherford said he’s worked closely with many paramedics on crime scenes and knows what struggles the profession entails.
“They go out there and face a tough job, too. They deserve to have a pension just as good as other public safety officials,” Rutherford said. “I feel very strongly about this and I will help them as much as I can.”
Lynch said this is the fifth year the authority has worked on the plan.
Now with the full support of Carper and Rutherford, Lynch said the group hopes the plan will finally come to fruition.
“If we lose just one of these employees, we are in trouble,” Lynch said. “I think if we are not successful with this, you will see some huge changes in the county’s EMS system.”