Residents will suffer

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: June 18, 2008

Rockingham County has a shortage of qualified paramedics, and it’s a situation that must be reversed. We can rest assured 911 calls will be answered, but we must remain cognizant of the need for qualified paramedics and offer competitive pay packages when recruiting or retaining these professionals.
EMS director Steve Hale told us Rockingham County has 38 paramedics, eight short of a full staff. Part-timers and volunteers pick up the slack, which is to be expected, as residents here are quick to help our neighbors in need. But a deep, qualified core of paramedics is critically important, especially because fast emergency care may be crucial to people in the western part of the county who are miles from hospitals in Eden, Reidsville and Greensboro.
A highly trained paramedic leaves school making about $30,000, which is much less than many other fields, where a life-or-death situation is a distant idea, as opposed to an everyday reality. Some beginning paramedics make about $25,000, which doesn’t compare favorably with many other health-care workers, regardless of the level of training.
A move to add five paramedics in Rockingham County this fiscal year failed because of budget concerns, which is unfortunate even in tough financial times. This could be a function left to the private sector, but without the prospect of healthy competition, residents might go untreated. Some local governments contract private services, but that move has its pitfalls as well, such as in Philadelphia, which hires private ambulance services but does not bring them into the city’s 911 system.
“We need more people because the call volume goes up every year,” Hale told us. “We’re covering 500 more calls each year with the same people we’ve had for years.”
These paramedics are working long shifts and enduring incredibly high levels of stress. We need to train more paramedics in Rockingham County, and we must keep those we have. Government officials and politicians often make the case for needing more money by saying “residents will suffer.” In the case of qualified paramedics, that statement couldn’t be truer.