EMS volunteer shortage in Whitman County

Emergency Medical Services treat approximately 25-30 million patients per year in the United States. Response times in urban areas are generally seven minutes, but in rural areas the average time is double with one in 10 people waiting close to half an hour for help.

Longer response times are mainly due to the fact that EMS in rural areas cover more area and the lack of volunteers.

"I think with recruiting on the EMS side it is the same challenge as the firefighters," said Milt Groom of Colfax. He is a volunteer with the city and Fire District 11.

"You just don't have that group of people anymore with the heart to serve in the capacity as a volunteer," Groom added.

He believes the problem is more than just EMS and fire in general; it's in many different aspects of smaller towns.

"You have the same people working in the same agencies, who have done it the last 30 years and maybe one or two who are younger, but there is not that float through to pass the torch down," Groom said.

Currently, in Oakesdale, there are no emergency medical technicians.

According to various state health departments and EMS agencies, EMS agencies are not considered an essential service in more than half of the country, as compared to police and fire agencies. Washington is one of the few states that holds EMS agencies as essential.

The legislature finds that a statewide program of emergency medical care is necessary to promote the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of this state, according to RCW 18.73.010.

"I make the class 150 hours for basic EMT," said Jamie Keller, president of the EMS council and Whitcom. "It's supposed to be 140 hours; I make it 150 instructional hours from me."

Keller said the test to be certified is at a college level and becomes harder for people to pass who have been out of school for five to 10 years.

"We are trying to get them back not only in the swing of studying, but studying when they have other full-time jobs," Keller said. "Trying to keep up when you have a full-time job and family, it's hard to do."

It was discussed in the EMS council meeting, Nov. 21, that years ago keeping up with one's certification wasn't as time-consuming.

Nationally registered EMTs are required to renew their certification every two years.

Bill Tensfeld, Whitman County emergency management director, said the most trouble he has seen is getting people through the class to pass the test.

To become a certified EMT, passing the national registry test is required.

In 2019, 81 percent of those who took the national registry test in Washington to become an EMT passed on their first attempt. Over the past five years, the first attempt pass rate in Washington is 81 percent.

According to the National Registry of Emergency Technicians website, 88 percent of people in Washington passed on their third attempt.

"I don't think the retention issue is a rural or volunteer issue," said Laban Molsee, District 11 and secretary of the EMS council. "It's nationally with paid and volunteer. You lose a lot to folks that want to advance upward, and you lose a lot to burnout. It's good that people who get started and want to become a nurse or move up. It's a good problem, but it's still a problem at the back end."

Moslee said he believes the fix to this nationwide problem is to invest in your people.

"In the rural areas, we don't pay our people," Moslee said. "If we can't invest in them with money then we have to invest in them with really good training. We can offer really good training."

Tensfeld said it's hard to recruit new people to volunteer. He mentioned how a lot of people barely have the time to take care of themselves, let alone volunteer.

"People who graduate high school in Rosalia, they are gone, right after graduation," Tensfeld said. "They go to college there's nothing to keep them here."

Tensfeld shared how when he was growing up his dad was a volunteer in Los Angeles County. He said that his dad wasn't gone every day, but quite a bit, but that's just how it was, "dad was on a call."

"You got people in the rural area, whether farming or in the ag industry or a business in town putting in 50 hours a week and then anything they do on top of that is a huge commitment," Groom said. "I think quantity is a huge issue, we need a bigger pool, but the smaller towns just don't have that pool of people anymore."

Groom said there should be more conversation about educating the public. He said the public needs to know how this shortage will affect them when they are in an unplanned emergency.