WHEELING, W.Va. —Lawmakers continue searching for a funding fix for the fire and EMS organizations.
The legislative Committee on Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services Vice-Chair Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, said they could be looking for up to $30 million during the next session just to stabilize EMS departments.
During interim meetings Tuesday in Wheeling, the committee heard from Jody Ratliff, director of the West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services. Ratliff told the committee that from October 2022 to October 2023, EMS units responded to 228,484 911 calls, 44,820 inter-facility transports, and 147,614 medical transports, for a total of 420,918 total EMS responses.
“We have a response every 48 seconds, a 911 response every 2 minutes and 128 seconds, 122.7 interfacility transports, and 404 medical transports every day,” Ratliff said.
However, Ratliff said not all of those calls result in transport or some form of billable service. In addition, units must keep people on station prepared to respond, adding to the cost of maintaining readiness.
“How many times have we been called out on a call? More than 1 million, 1,099,000, but we only end up transporting 420,918,” Ratliff said. “So over half of what we went out on we don’t get paid for.”
According to information from the West Virginia EMS Coalition, since 2019 the state has lost 35 percent of EMTs and 15 percent of paramedics. Additionally, over the last decade, more than 70 ambulance agencies have closed their doors. The exit trend continues currently, with trained responders leaving positions for others with better pay and benefits.
“If you look at those 1,686 providers who ran all of the calls last year, they ran them out of the same trucks,” Ratliff said. “Those are the same providers doing the same thing I did, working 80 hours a week for years and years and years, and we can’t figure out why we’re losing people.”
Ratliff said the stress that comes with the job demands proper staffing to share the burdens across agencies. The stress level is another reason pay and benefits are higher in border states.
“Someone having a heat attack right in front of you asking if they’re going to live and seeing that death in their face is pressure,” Ratliff said. “Having a family member standing over you while their four-year-old is unresponsive and you’re intubating them—that’s pressure.”