As it grapples with a lack of volunteers, the Woodstock Fire Department is proposing paying part-time emergency medical technicians (EMTs).
The big gap in coverage is on weekends, 4 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday, said Jeff DeLisio, chair of the fire district’s board of commissioners. The department has proposed paying for four twelve-hour shifts at a cost of $77,000 per year.
“We still rely heavily on volunteers to fill the gaps, but the weekends are problematic,” he said.
The department considers a full crew for the rescue squad to be a driver, an EMT and a paramedic.
Because of a lack of staffing, DeLisio said, many times, the driver is pulling double duty or the paramedic is going on basic-life-support (BLS) calls. The only paid department employees presently are four full-time paramedics who work twelve-hour shifts, a secretary-treasurer and a maintenance technician.
The department recently took steps to retain its roster of paramedics, many of whom move on to higher-paying jobs with other municipalities or private ambulance companies.
Many paramedics live out of town. Recently, the department converted space in the rescue-squad building to living quarters for the paramedics. The space can be used by volunteers in the event of inclement weather.
A crew of Ametek Rotron employees provides much of the daytime coverage from a station on company grounds during business hours.
“It’s a fairly tenuous situation,” DeLisio said. “The whole medical field is in a bit of a dip right now.”
DeLisio said people’s hectic work and family schedules, increasingly stringent training requirements, and the fact people burn out were making it tough to keep a steady roster of volunteers. Emergency medical service, he feels, is not an occupation suitable for a volunteer organization.
Having to rely on a volunteer workforce is further complicated by the fact the state does not consider EMS an essential service. “Try to explain that to someone who needs our help and needs to get to the hospital,” DeLisio said.
Adding to the staffing challenge is an increase in call volume since Covid. More traditionally part-time residents are now here full-time.
DeLisio believes the call volume would drop significantly if Woodstock had an urgent-care center. Many of the calls may not require emergency-room care, but people may not have the means to get to the nearest urgent-care centers in Kingston or Saugerties.
Do volunteers resent working alongside paid EMTs? DeLisio said any volunteer can take the civil service exam and get a part-time paid position. However, one cannot be both paid and volunteer, earning a check for one part of the week and volunteering for the other.
“My anticipation is volunteers will always be there to augment paid staff. If we can’t do it with volunteers, we will work with them and augment them with paid staff,” DeLisio said.
The fire district will hold a public hearing on the proposal October 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Company 1 headquarters, 242 Tinker Street.
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