By Bristow Marchant
The State
LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — In an emergency, you will depend on them to save your life. But shortages in trained paramedics and EMTs have strained Emergency Medical Services across the Palmetto State and beyond.
Emergency responders are struggling with the same challenges that beset other critical services in South Carolina dealing with shortages – namely the lack of available, qualified candidates for life-saving jobs.
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“The primary challenge, which is consistent with national trends across the EMS and healthcare sectors, is finding qualified applicants,” Lexington County EMS Chief Magen Hallman wrote in an email. “EMS is a demanding, high-acuity profession, and the pool of certified, high-quality paramedics, in particular, is extremely competitive. We are competing not just with other local agencies but with the broader healthcare industry for individuals with these critical skills.”
Midlands services aren’t alone. A media tracking report from the American Ambulance Association and the Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration found that between calendar years 2021 and 2024, fully 94% of EMS-related news stories nationwide highlighted staffing and other challenges faced by first responders.
But at the same time, the number of emergency medical technicians across the country has increased by 40% between 2020 and 2023, from 74,000 to more than 104,000, according to the National Registry of EMTs.
Locally, Lexington County currently has 24 open positions, 21 of which are front-line paramedic and EMT jobs. But Hallman said the agency has nine new certified employees scheduled to start in January, and operates an EMS Academy program twice a year to induct new members into the EMS workforce.
“This is a critical investment where we focus on hiring individuals who demonstrate the right character and commitment and then provide them with the necessary EMT education while they are employed by the county,” Hallman said. “This guarantees a steady stream of highly vetted, newly certified EMTs.”
As Lexington County’s population has expanded, the county has dealt with concerns about its ambulance response times to its most far-flung developments and neighborhoods.
The county is also taking steps to build out its fleet of response vehicles. Because of supply-chain issues, “a standard ambulance acquisition, from order to delivery, has seen its timeline increase significantly, often extending beyond one year,” Hallman said.
Instead, Lexington County is hoping to use non-ambulance quick response vehicles staffed by paramedics to respond to certain calls so that county EMS can better manage its available fleet.
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