At a council study session on Tuesday, Babbitt Ambulance Supervisor Emily Jaeger spoke before a full room to provide an overview of recent staffing shortages, painting a grim future for Babbitt’s ambulance service if staffing numbers don’t rise.
The service currently includes three paramedics, nine EMTs, and sex EMRs. Only paramedics can provide the most advanced life support, while EMTs can administer “first aid, trauma and medical assessment and a limited amount of medication.” EMRs are only certified to provide basic emergency skills.
Babbitt’s service is considered a part-time advanced life support ambulance, “because we are not able to guarantee a paramedic on every ambulance call,” said Jaeger.
“This does not mean that we don’t have a paramedic responding to your call. It just means that you are not guaranteed one when you call 911,” Jaeger said.
Of the calls this year, said Jaeger, 15 members of the roster have participated. However, only a select few bear the brunt of the work.
“Out of these 15 people, only nine have been EMTs or paramedics. Again, the burden of these 911 (calls) have not been spread out evenly. Out of these 15 people, four have made up 90% of these runs,” Jaeger said. “This is not sustainable and it cannot continue that we expect these people to carry this burden and all the work, time away from loved ones, and carrying the weight of all the trauma that comes with helping people in their time of need.”
“Volunteers over the years have sacrificed so much to keep the ambulance service in the community. But as the years come and go, these numbers dwindle, leaving the remaining crew to carry the full burden,” said Jaeger, “All over the state, volunteerism is dying, and EMS is having to adapt to that.”
Incentives — such as the recently-instated policy of $120 in compensation for every 36 hours on call — have not made a significant difference, she said. It is still the same few who take on the majority of the work.
“I don’t fault my crew members if they can pick up an overtime shift at the mine and make a bunch of money compared to the $120 they’re going to make here,” Jaeger said.
She suggested that a permanent solution would likely need to include a wage increase for EMS personnel, ideally one that would be competitive with nearby cities like Ely and Hoyt Lakes, who she says pay around $17-$18 an hour for EMTs and $23-$26 for paramedics.
She outlined the threats of what could happen if the city isn’t able to pick up a larger and more stable force of paramedics and EMTs to staff the ambulance. If the situation continues on a downward trend, Babbitt could take the route of selling the service area to a nearby hospital or another local ambulance provider, creating longer wait times — “life or death” in an emergency.
“This means that the waiting time increases as they try and get another truck together if they’re already out on their own call, or we’d have to wait for Virginia Ambulance or Hoyt Lake EMS to come, and that could be up to an hour. That means waiting 30 minutes to an hour for you or your loved one to receive care if you are having a stroke, a heart attack or traumatic injuries. That means waiting, possibly for life saving medications or procedures,” Jaeger said.
If a private ambulance provider were to pick up Babbitt’s service, Jaeger says they could charge the City of Babbitt for any losses they incur while making runs to the area.
Jaeger emphasized these are only hypotheticals, and no discussions have occurred yet. However, she underscored the need for change.
“There’s a lot of turnover. We got four new people. If they decide, you know, they’re EMRs, EMTs, and they want to go somewhere else, get more experience, then we’re right back to where we are,” Jaeger added, “So we’re wanting to find more of a permanent solution if the citizens and the city council would like to see the ambulance service staying here.”
