Thursday, January 6th 2022, 8:30 pm
EMSA said 21 of its staff members that cover Eastern Oklahoma are out because they either have COVID-19 or have been exposed to it.
The remaining crews are taking on more overtime to make up for the staffing shortage.
EMSA said getting patients into the hospital is also taking longer because healthcare workers are also stretched thin.
Shawn Burch, EMSA clinical coordinator and a paramedic, said when crews run a call, with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patient, that truck then goes out of service for a deep clean.
"The call volume is tiring, but in all reality, we're a busy system,” said Burch. “We've always been a busy system. That's nothing new to us. It's just the pandemic has brought new challenges for us to deal with."
Christopher Jenkins, EMSA interim chief of operations, said COVID-19 has hit crews hard.
"So far, we haven't seen a dramatic reduction in the number of trucks that are available out in the public, but we're definitely doing everything we can to try and keep people healthy so that we don't have any issues going forward," explained Jenkins.
Jenkins said when staff start to show symptoms they get tested for both COVID-19 and Influenza.
He said if they're positive, they quarantine for at least 10 days. That means everyone else is taking on extra shifts to make up for the staffing shortage.
"If you need to have a day off and don't want to work any overtime, don't work any overtime,” said Burch. “Go take care of yourself, go take care of your family and make sure you're healthy physically and mentally so that you can do your job."
EMSA said more people are applying after it added sign-on bonuses.
The new "earn-as-you-learn" program will start soon and training takes 2 months to 4 months.
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