By Chase Hoffberger
The Austin Chronicle
AUSTIN, Texas — The sky began to fall before the third weekend in June. That Friday, June 19, word got out from city management that Travis County Medical Director Dr. Paul Hinchey would soon resign from his position. The resignation (he’s headed to the private sector) – effective Sept. 2 – marked the first significant culture and policy shift since two suicides and a third fatigue-related death changed the state of Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services from “troubled” to “life-threatening.” Paramedics contacted by the Chronicle throughout the spring and summer months spoke of Hinchey’s heavy-handed management methods and insistence on deploying an ambulance staffing model that they said compromised quality of patient care (not to mention the medics’ morale and energy) to fix a city staffing issue.
That same week, City Council member and Public Safety Committee Chair Don Zimmerman ruffled ATCEMS’ administrative feathers a little more when he amended the following Monday’s PSC meeting agenda to include a discussion about a possible merger with the Fire Department. The proposition – a longstanding idea that’s been intermittently proposed since ATCEMS’ inception in the Seventies – was strictly preliminary, and received an unequivocal “we’re not considering it” from Asst. City Manager Rey Arellano during early 2015-16 budget discussions. However, Zimmerman’s insistence on broaching the issue did help reignite questions concerning whether or not ATCEMS is doing the best job managing resources, and whether or not department Chief Ernie Rodriguez and his executive staff are capable of managing a team of roughly 400 medics, commanders, and captains.
The state of ATCEMS’s field staff – an overworked crew that, in addition to managing the stress that comes with responding to life-or-death emergencies all day, must work mandatory overtime shifts to augment their 48-hour work weeks and are often called in for additional last-minute overtime shifts to keep ambulances operating at capacity – has come back into question over the past month as City Council tries to sort out next year’s budget. Rodriguez and his executive staff have been asked not just what they need, but how they plan to use their resources for the betterment of their workers. The chief was pressed multiple times during the Aug. 12 budget hearing before Council, most notably by Mayor Steve Adler. Then, Rodriguez chalked morale issues up to a changing Austin landscape; one that’s seen its population increase 29% since 2005.
Read full story: A Healthier Workforce