NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Staffing shortages, increased call volumes and low revenue has led to what officials are calling a depleted emergency system for emergency medical services (EMS).
The North Haven Fire Department is getting approximately 20 emergency calls a day with ambulance response times of up to a half-hour, according to chief Paul Januszewski.
On Monday, state senators proposed a bill to help with the ongoing staffing shortage crisis for emergency medical service workers.
The bill would request data across the state and develop an EMS working group to monitor challenges, improve education recruitment, retention and increase pay.
“We save lives if we fix this,” State Sen. Saud Anwar said.
Rural areas in the state are impacted the most by the staffing shortage.
EMS volunteers in the town of Coventry are often called to emergencies from home, according to officials. The volunteers then go to the station to get the ambulance, respond to the call and then take a long trip to the hospital.
“We probably have half the number of volunteers we used to,” said John Elsesser, Town Manager of Coventry.
Elsesser said they do not have enough volunteers causing current members to work unsustainable hours while dealing with more calls.
“We’re having a difficult time keeping up with the number of calls that are coming in. We’re calling volunteers out, 24/7 middle of the night for all of those calls,” Elsesser said.
This bill also hopes to bring the state and federal program’s reimbursement to the same amount as Medicare.
“They are cost-neutral, there is absolutely no profit made at all from Medicaid patients. I think it’s going to take a lot of work. I think the ems system in the state of Connecticut is broken and we are not going to be able to fix it with one bill,” Januszewski said.