Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?
I have no desire to work for a fire department, But for some that’s exactly what they want.
I'll be honest, for $51 an hour, I'll do it. I'm at the point in my life where having enough $$$ to support my family, and lifestyle is more important than the patch on my arm. Throw in a pension to retire after 20 years, and no SSM, and it's all about a means to an end. If the City's sanitation department ran EMS, paid me $51 an hour with a pension, I'd be game.
Few people in EMS have 30 year year career in them, let alone 30 at the same agency; even fewer have 30 years on the ambulance.
I think the wage stagnation is the part that is unsustainable long-term. One of the major municipal 911 services near me (also Central PA) was paying new full-time EMTs $9/hr just a few years ago. I had a long post ready to go, but I think I'd rather summarize it instead.
Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).
As a supervisor level EMT with 8-years in the field, I was making an effective wage of about $21/hr working IFT and about $15/hr working 911. A week into doing parcel delivery as non-supervisor I was making an effective wage of about $29/hr and going home on time every day.
We as a society value getting our junk in the mail as quickly as possible above getting an emergency response as quickly as possible. Lack of funding for the EMS agencies isn't the problem of the EMS providers (or other healthcare providers). They'll just leave... and they are. It's a problem for EMS agencies (and healthcare in general) and society. We need to value the time of our non-unionized first responders and health-care providers more highly.
This... all this... 29/hr to deliver mail, vs 15 on a 911 truck... 21/hr working IFT, vs 29/hr doing mail... Most EMS agencies aren't set up as careers, especially the ones that pay $9/hr. For the record, neither is McDonalds; they know people won't stay, so they have no incentive to pay them a decent wage, because their business model is for them to leave and be replaced with more cheap people.
Education is only a small part of the issue... How many paramedics nationwide only have a HS diploma and a paramedic patch? How many will fight a requirement for an AAS in emergency medical science? how many EMS leaders, with a paramedic patch, don't have an AAS in EMS? What studies exist that show the benefit of a degreed paramedic over a patched paramedic, from any perspective? how many providers won't take the AAS, even if their company paid for all of the classes?
Funding is the primary issue... historically, EMS has been a free service, provided by volunteers, funded by donations. But in the last 50-100 years, it's transitioned to a professional career, but is still seen as a free service to the AHJ (hospital based EMS system, volunteer/3rd party non-profit, or the dreaded 0 bid for profit), or an ancillary service that could be ran by the FD or another government entity to bring in some revenue for the town. There is still a lot of hesitancy to pay for it from elected leaders, because no one has pushed the issue. After all, would your ambulance service with 4 ambulances on duty with staff making 10/hr rather go to 8 ambulances on duty with staff making 10/hr, or 4 ambulances on duty making 20/hr?
Most of the EMS agencies around me are raising wages, but their turnover rates are embarrassing. It's getting harder to retain experienced providers, and the good people leave, but the bad people stay. I'm hoping the call volume increases lead to additional funding from the county (who is responsible for EMS in NC), for both raises and additional units, but they are at critical staffing levels on a daily basis... and the FDs have noticed extended response times outside of the city for EMS units... It will be interesting...
I do hope that all EMS services are doing exit interviews with the people who leave, so they can identify what steps they are failing to do to retain their existing staff
