Shame on our state government for not helping EMT services
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently released $50 million in hazard pay grants in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those funds, $0 was received by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers in Pennsylvania. Not one red cent. Zip. Zero. Nil.
This is not only an outrage, but it is both demoralizing and detrimental to the hard-working EMT’s, Advanced EMT’s, and Paramedics who have been on the real front lines of this crisis since day one.
Consider this: In Pa., most EMS providers are paid an embarrassingly low wage for the vital work they do. Since this crisis began back in March, I personally know providers who have treated and transported known COVID-19 patients 3, 4, or more times in a single 24-hour period. If you’ve never seen the back of an ambulance, just imagine being with an infected patient in a space that is about the size of the average home bathroom. At first, with the scarcity of personal protective equipment, some EMS providers had no choice but to reuse the N-95 masks that they were allotted. This was not the fault of the services they worked for; there were just no extra masks to be had.
EMS providers are just like everyone else. They have families, children, elderly parents and grandparents, and just like all other essential workers. They have to worry about taking the disease home to those they love and infecting them. And yes, EMS providers have contracted the virus in the course of their work and some have died from it.
Although I am now retired, I spent 26 years as an active provider. I know the pain, frustration, and fatigue that my friends are going through. Many of them work 70, 80, or even more hours per week just to make ends meet. I remember times when I would get up for work, get dressed, and my boots were still warm because I had just come home from the previous shift a short time before.
This latest abomination is yet another slap in the face to an industry whose back was breaking even before COVID-19. Yet, through everything that has been thrown at them, one thing remains constant: they still respond to every call and deliver skilled, compassionate, and professional care. EMS providers don’t do what they do for the money; on the contrary, there is a special need to care for others that drives them to seek out this noble, but all-too-often disrespected and devalued vocation.
EMS providers are spit on, punched, kicked, verbally abused, and called “ambulance drivers,” which is akin to using the worst slur one can imagine. Police Officers are called “The Finest.” Firefighters are called “The Bravest.” EMS providers are called “The Forgotten.”
A word to those in power: keep up this constant disrespect, and one day it may be you who calls 911 and no ambulance comes. Not because they refuse to respond, but because there is no one left to respond. Folks are leaving the job in droves because they just can’t do it anymore. They just can’t go on breaking their backs (literally) for the inability to earn a decent living wage.
EMS agencies have been lobbying for years for reform to the laws that allow insurance companies to send ambulance payments directly to the insured rather than the EMS service. This absurd practice amounts to nothing but free money to some people who simply cash the check and head off to spend it rather than remitting to the ambulance service. Plus, Medicare and Medicaid often deny claims or pay up whenever they get around to it, leaving EMS services to scramble to make payroll, pay insurance premiums, purchase fuel and equipment, etc. Again, their pleas fall on deaf ears or receive useless lip service from the politicians.
I am proud of the years I spent as an EMT and then paramedic. They taught me how to remain calm and keep a cool head during a crisis, but more importantly, they enabled me to form life-long bonds and dear friendships with some of the best people I have ever known. I have no regrets, but my time has passed. I pray for the new generation of EMS providers who are out there every day, every night, and every hour, protecting you and your loved ones. If there is hazard pay to be had, I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.
Shame on our legislature for allowing this travesty to happen. Shame on you, Governor Wolf. Shame on you, Pennsylvania.
We ain’t nothin’ til you need us. I hope you never do.
Ronald J. Barry, retired paramedic
Brownsville