La PORTE — After being impacted by both high job turnover and an increased call load, La Porte County EMS has appealed to the La Porte County Council for help.
EMS Director Andrew McGuire provided an update on the department’s situation regarding staffing shortages to the council at Monday’s meeting.
“At the annual budget hearing on July 27, we explained the struggles we’ve had over the past year regarding employee retention, hiring and overall employee morale,” he said.
“Unfortunately, these concerns have not been improved.
“I’m respectfully asking for some sort of an update, timeframe, discussion ... something to provide them a little bit of hope and hopefully stop a few of our employees who are considering leaving in the near future,” McGuire said.
The department has continued to lose employees, the director said.
“To date, we have lost a total of 14 employees. What hurts is four of those employees had 10 or more years of experience. One had 24 years ... A lot of skilled, very well-trained employees have walked out the door, including some members of management,” McGuire said.
All but two of them have gone to another department that paid more and had less workload, he said.
The department has been hiring as many qualified candidates as it can, however, McGuire noted that applications are hit and miss.
“Some of the candidates that we are attempting to hire were expressing hesitation regarding salary that we’re offering along with the workload that they hear that we have.”
In the last few weeks, EMS assistant administrator Eric Fenstermaker compiled data on the department’s call load to compare 2021 activity with the previous year.
“We found that we’re nearly anywhere between 850 and 900 calls higher than we were this time last year,” McGuire said.
“Unfortunately, I don’t see this getting any better. The residents of La Porte County and nationwide are relying on EMS more so than ever before.”
With the increase in calls, charges have also been up by about $230,000 compared to the same time last year.
“Just as a note of reference, we did bring in just over $3 million in collections in the year 2020,” McGuire said.
Fenstermaker added that there are days when, out of the 14 normal people on shift, maybe three or four are on the actual shift due to injury, illness or holes in the schedule.
“Not only are all these guys and gals answering their regular calls, now we’re asking them to do it for 48 hours to cover the overtime for all these openings and holes and they just can’t do it anymore.
“What we’re asking them to do, they just physically cannot do any more. That’s why it’s so important for us to be able to attract new applicants and fill these holes so we can quit having that,” Fenstermaker said.
On Monday the council approved a request from EMS for $90,000 in additional funding for overtime. The council previously approved an additional $90,000 of overtime and $15,000 in part-time funds in April.
McGuire said the administration and management is doing everything they can to keep their heads above water.
“We really are. Day to day, Eric does the scheduling. He fills all the holes and gaps, and there’s been some pretty rough days. The true solution is really out of my control and out of Eric’s control,” McGuire said.
La Porte County, he said, is not alone.
“Several other agencies are facing the same problem we are and due to this, most agencies are re-evaluating salaries, longevity, sign-on bonuses and most of them are using ARP money to provide a substantial bonus to EMS employees – all in an effort to increase employee retention and attract applicants,” McGuire said.
Councilman Mark Yagelski, however, noted that ARP money will not last.
“ARP money is not going to solve the problem. It might last until Jan. 1 or to the following year, but that’s it. That’s not a solution,” he said.
McGuire did not dispute that point.
“I agree 100%,” he said. “The ARP money is just a thank you to them for the past few years of COVID. The solution is in the salaries, the long-term longevity,” McGuire said.
Councilman Michael Rosenbaum said county citizens need to be protected with a fully functional, fully staffed EMS.
“I think we have to solve one problem at a time, and you probably have one of the most serious problems we need to solve first,” he told McGuire.
“I know that everybody would like to hear that everybody’s going to get raises, but that can’t happen. Financially it just can’t happen,” Rosenbaum said.
Council president Randy Novak said the discussion will continue.
“We’re hoping to have a workshop with the council in the next week or two to where we can sit down and really talk about the raises and what exactly we’re going to do.”
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