By Paul Wilcoxen
The Southern Illinoisan
CARTERVILLE — Citing a steady rise in overlapping ambulance calls, the Carterville City Council approved creating a full-time EMT/paramedic position on a new 12-hour day shift with 12 hours on call overnight.
Mayor Brad Robinson told aldermen the change is aimed squarely at response times when a second medical call comes in while the primary crew is already out.
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“From the beginning of this calendar year to present, 32% of the time that the ambulance is out, a second call comes in for another ambulance,” Robinson said.
He explained that the current staffing model has one full-time EMT and one part-time EMT on duty for 24 hours, and that it falls short when two ambulance calls come in at the same time.
“When our primary crew goes out on an ambulance call, it leaves one person at the station,” Robinson said.
According to Robinson, the Carterville Fire Department operates three ambulances along with a non-transport advanced life support (ALS) truck.
“So one out of every three calls that goes out, they are calling and radioing and trying to find somebody to go with them on a second call.”
Rather than hire a full four-person second crew, Robinson asked the council to authorize a single full-time position that works 12 hours during the day, then remains on call 12 hours overnight, on a 2-day-on, 2-day-off rotation.
“What I’m asking for is the ability to create this 12-12, full-time position,” he said.
Fire Chief Jason Sheraden said the department has been testing the schedule with part-time employees this month and noted they have already handled about 15 second calls out of 57 total. He said the added coverage has reduced stress on full-time staff.
“They are very relieved knowing that they always have both ambulances covered,” Sheraden said.
Robinson said the old setup caused delays, with the department averaging about a minute and 20 seconds to leave the station on a primary call but taking four and a half minutes on a second call because only one person was available and had to find another to respond.
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