格伦哈欠
明星论坛幕
(MCT)
许多明尼苏达州救护车服务正在努力回应紧急呼叫，因为工人离开该领域以追求更好的工资和工作条件。
The exodus comes as demand for emergency medical services is increasing statewide, not only from heart attacks, strokes and car accidents but also patient transfers from hospital to hospital because of crowded conditions caused by COVID-19.
“我从来没有见过这么多工人离开EMS领域，”巴塞尔·麦克尔佩“这很令人震惊。”
根据国家数据的说法，近60％的州10,465次认证的紧急医疗技术人员没有提供患者护理，建议他们完全离开了劳动力。
明尼苏达州也有3730名医护人员,他们需要ore training and tend to earn higher wages, but 15% of them show no record of working in the EMS field last year.
And more than 1,500 emergency professionals have given up their certification altogether, a quit rate that is higher than before the pandemic.
该行业和紧急医疗服务监管委员会要求明尼苏达州立法机构暂时放弃一些规定 - 例如要求认证的专业人员驾驶救护车或允许某些设备用于过去的到期日期 - 释放一些员工。董事会需要审查并批准每次变化。
苛刻的工作很少付钱
EMS人员配置短缺在整个国家，农村救护车服务多年来面临挑战。但Covid-19大流行使这项工作更加困难，而变化的经济意味着低薪的紧急工作人员可以在其他工作中获得更多。
“People are saying, ‘I’d like to do this, but I can’t do this and pay my bills,'” said Virginia Fire Chief Allen Lewis, who oversees the ambulance service in Virginia, Minn. “They will no longer be satisfied to work for what are essentially fast-food wages.”
这项工作也很高，需要长时间的班次，夜间工作，呼叫工作和在假期转移。
Perham Area EMS has two paramedic positions open but hasn’t received any applications, director Jim Rieber said.
“我们现在看到了甚至进入该领域的人的巨大衰落，”Rieber说。“一些人的培训成本是无法忍受的。”
Perham提供了为新护理人员支付18,000美元的培训费用，但只有一个人利用该计划。另一个人正在考虑。
两个服务的员工正在为护理学校学习。
“There’s a pretty big pay disparity between paramedics and nursing,” he said. “They will walk out of the door after being in the field 10 years and get a $15-an-hour pay increase, at a minimum.”
COVID-19 has worn down the resilience of many health care workers, including EMS providers, who on nearly every shift interact with people who might be unvaccinated or not wearing masks in homes, businesses and other settings.
“People are stressed at all levels of caregivers,” said Jeff Czyson, director of workforce for Allina Health EMS. “We’ve been in this for two years. There is so much fatigue.”
Allina has been trying to support its 716 workers with therapy dogs, chaplains and an employee assistance program. Although it hired a record 149 new employees last year, 150 left.
“We set records with our hiring to basically break even,” he said. Although Allina has 300 paramedics, it would like 350 to make scheduling easier.
“如果我们有一个减少的劳动力，你开始看到一些延迟的响应时间，”Czyson说。“我们并没有尽快到达一些我们应该的地方。”
一些救护车服务正面临财务问题，特别是在明尼苏达州农村，依靠志愿者。几个过去几年已经关闭，有些人正在考虑它。
“我们正在开始看到社区做出选择，现在有一个很好的看待他们的服务来试图弄清楚该做什么，”明尼苏达州农村卫生协会执行董事Mark Jones表示。
“When 911 is called, I am very confident that at some point an ambulance will get there,” he said. “The concern is whether the rural ambulance services are able to answer the call in a timely manner.”
志愿者更难以找到
除了没有资金支付将吸引新的EMS工人的薪水，许多小型救护车服务正在失去志愿者，他们传统上是明尼苏达州农村的紧急响应的骨干。
“We are asking people to do this on top of their real jobs for minimal to no pay,” said Ann Jenson, executive director of the Southwest Minnesota EMS Corp., which provides support services to first responder agencies in 18 counties.
“我们在人们不再志愿的地方了，”她说。“如果他们的寻呼机脱落，那么没有人会坐在他们的房子周围。”
尽管如此，有些人在包括Jenson，谁是道森救护车服务的志愿者。
在过去的八年里，五个救护车服务已经在她的地区关闭，另外还有两个人正在考虑它。发生这种情况时，该领土被分配给其他机构，这也可能被拉伸。有时只有获得最少培训的紧急医疗响应者，都可以使用。
Many emergency medical responders arrive on the scene in personal vehicles with a defibrillator and some bandaging. They can assess the situation and call an ambulance, but the wait is typically longer for an ambulance to arrive.
“They really are just grasping at straws to keep going,” Jenson said. “They have done great things to hold on and keep ambulance services open, so it is not for a lack of trying, but it is just that you have to have people.”
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