Hawaii News Now
HONOLULU — The city is routinely forcing paramedics and emergency medical technicians to work 16-hour shifts because of chronic staffing shortages that could be solved by changing shift lengths, a proposal which the medics’ union has fought for at least two years, sources said.
Every day, as many as ten paramedics and EMTs are being forced to work back-to-back shifts of up to 16 hours on city ambulances, a situation that the man who oversees the service describes as “completely unacceptable.”
Mark Rigg, director of the city’s Emergency Services Department, said city EMS suffers from a 15 percent vacancy rate, with 30 paramedic and EMT posts unfilled out of 220 funded positions.
Full story: Paramedics forced to work 16-hour days; union balks at potential shift change