By EMS1 Staff
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A county administrator submitted his resignation after allegedly told EMS providers they should either quit their job or kill themselves if they are unhappy in their position.
WISTV reported that Kevin Bronson allegedly made the comments in a meeting with about 100 Richland County EMS providers after he received a list of complaints from an employee.
“So I’m looking through this list with 50 different problems and if it’s really that bad you can just kill yourself or leave,” Bronson said, according to one of the EMS providers in the meeting.
“People were crying, people were yelling at him. One we just lost a deputy because of suicide. I don’t think he understands the gravity of the situation. We’re not here for the money, we’re here because we love what we do,” the audience member said.
Richland County EMS providers recently claimed there is a harsh work environment due to issues such as underfunding, understaffing and long response times that occasionally lead to preventable deaths.
Bronson submitted his resignation in a letter, admitting the comments were a “horrible and terrible thing for me to say.”
“My disrespectful words hurt and offended many people in the Richland County Government, especially the EMS workers, EMS workers across this country and surviving friends and families of loved ones of suicide,” Bronson wrote. “I am sorry.”