By Colin McEvoy
The Express Times
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — After nine months of uncertainty, it’s now official: Allentown EMS will remain an all-paramedic squad.
Since November, the city has gone back and forth on plans to possibly add lesser-trained EMTs to the squad, a proposal that drew the ire of the paramedics currently working.
But Allentown Fire Chief Robert Scheirer, who in June was empowered by the city to make the final call, confirmed to city council tonight that EMTs will not be added.
“I think we’re at an excellent level of service right now, and I don’t think we want to move backward,” Scheirer said. “I think an all-paramedic unit is far superior to one that also includes EMTs.”
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who was not present at tonight’s meeting, originally supported the overhaul the squad into one with 75 percent paramedics and 25 percent EMTs.
But Fran Doughtery, the city’s managing director, said the administration now fully supports this plan and trusts the judgement of Scheirer and the Allentown EMS professional staff.
“This is the plan they came up with,” Dougherty said. “They are on the front lines and it’s our job to empower them and support them in providing the best possible services.”
City council approved the original overhaul in December after then-Allentown EMS director David Van Allen said failing to do so could create a $445,000 deficit for the squad.
But the overhaul was placed on hold after Van Allen abruptly resigned in December, and the future of the squad faced even further uncertainty after his successor also suddenly resigned in June.
“We have now established stability at Allentown EMS,” Dougherty said of the new plan.
Bryan Fritz, the new Allentown EMS operations manager, agreed with that assessment, remarking that morale was low on the squad but has improved now that it will be fully staffed by paramedics.
“It’s better than it was,” Fritz said. “Everybody seems to be a little bit happier these days.”
All positions except department manager have now been filled, Schirmer said, bringing the squad to 24 paramedics, four supervisors and one operations manager.
Schirmer said he does not anticipate a budget deficit because the squad has only filled existing positions, not created new ones or changed any existing jobs.
It remains undetermined when a fifth ambulance will be established for Allentown EMS, an issue that has been discussed for nearly seven months. Schirmer said he hopes to finalize a purchase in the next two weeks.
“We’re trying to figure out how to do it the least expensive way to the taxpayers,” he said.
Reprinted with permission of The Express Times