HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. — Records show Hennepin County paramedics have repeatedly operated below minimum staffing levels even as emergency call volumes rise, prompting union concerns about burnout and the mental health toll on workers.
Chronic understaffing on daily shifts has become a growing issue for the county’s paramedics and EMTs, according to records obtained by KMSP.
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“What we’re dealing with is chronic under-staffing, which is creating a snowball effect within our system,” Hennepin County Association of Paramedics and EMTs President Shane Hallow said.
The union represents about 200 paramedics, EMTs and emergency dispatchers.
A union survey conducted last year found that 75% of members reported experiencing high or very high levels of work-related stress. More than half of respondents said they were actively considering leaving the profession.
“The system’s broken, the system needs help,” Hallow said.
Hennepin EMS Chief Marty Scheerer addressed the survey findings, noting that staffing has increased by more than 34% over the past five years. Scheerer said the department has a waiting list of people who want to work as paramedics in Hennepin County.
“That’s a survey, but I look at the reality,” Sheerer said. “So, turnover, that is what I look at. We have the lowest turnover in the organization.”
However, daily staffing reports provided by the union indicate that the department has consistently fallen short of minimum staffing levels over the past several months.
The reports compare required staffing with the number of paramedics actually available.
One January morning, fewer than nine paramedics were on duty when more than two dozen were needed. On Feb. 13, Hennepin EMS operated below half-staff for hours. Scheerer said response times were not affected, but union records show the shortages were recurring.
911 calls have risen more than 26% in five years, with the county now handling nearly 100,000 a year.
Sheerer said higher demand, injuries, sick calls and leave make staffing harder, but added that overtime, new hires and mutual aid help cover shortages.
“The system is built, designed to have the ups and downs of staffing and surging,” Scheerer said. “We have a priority system of calls, so we are always going to send an ambulance to the high acuity calls.”
