emts fight to keep their pay

[Ems1997]

ok this was in the local paper what is your opinions

Coordinator, nearly all Port Austin EMTs resign

Future of EMS service uncertain

By Kate Hessling, Tribune Staff Writer

Published: Friday, May 15, 2009 5:37 PM EDT

PORT AUSTIN — The Central Huron Ambulance coordinator, as well as 10 of 11 crew members at Central Huron North (Thumb EMS), reportedly resigned following a meeting Wednesday where ambulance board members voted to clarify the way the volunteer EMTs are paid.

“You all need to think about the future of this service — without adequate pay, will there again be times when the ambulance has no one to staff it? Are you certain that you are comfortable with this decision?” reads a letter written to Central Huron Ambulance Board members from Service Coordinator Chris Stirrett following the board’s meeting.

“Basically, they’re taking money away from us that we’ve earned or feel we’re entitled to,” added Jim DePatty, Central Huron North (Thumb EMS) crew member. “They’ve been paying us a certain way for the past two years (and now that’s changed).”

Melissa Stirrett, a former Central Huron Ambulance board member who now serves as a crew member at Central Huron North, said board members voted Wednesday to institute a $40 standby stipend for any 12-hour shift, regardless of whether the 12 hours is considered a “split shift.”

The idea for a stipend, which is unique to Port Austin, came two years ago as a means to attract EMTs. She explained because there was a lack of EMTs in Port Austin — there are only two volunteer EMTs who live in the area – the ambulance board voted to create a special stipend for those who are on call for 12-hour shifts in Port Austin.

The reasoning, she said, is individuals from outside the area have to spend 12 hours a day at the station in Port Austin. If they were volunteering in their own communities, they would be able to go to work or spend the day at home, unless called on a run.

Working in Port Austin, however, means the volunteers have to stay in town. Otherwise, they’d be too far away to answer a call, Melissa Stirrett said.

As a result, there was a lack of EMTs in the area willing to fill in 12-hour shifts at Central Huron North in Port Austin, Melissa Stirrett said.

Because there was a lack of volunteers, there were several times Central Huron Ambulance has been out of service, and those with emergencies in the Port Austin area had to wait for an ambulance from Bad Axe, she said.

This was seen as unfair, considering those in Port Austin, Pointe Aux Barques, Dwight and Hume townships, as well as the village of Port Austin, all paid a portion of taxes that went to the ambulance authority, Melissa Stirrett said.

So the solution was to create the $40 stipend to lure other EMTs to serve as paid volunteers and fill 12-hour shifts in Port Austin, she said.

The 12-hour shifts were from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. all week long. The paid volunteers were given $40 for a standby stipend if there were no calls, she explained. If there was a call, volunteers would receive $37.50 per call, rather than the stipend.

However, there were crew members who did not work either of the 6-to-6 shifts, Melissa Stirrett said. Instead, they worked shifts such as noon to midnight or midnight to noon. This was considered a split shift. Those who worked a split shift were given $20 per each six-hour split. If there were no calls and an individual worked noon to midnight, he or she was paid $20 for being on call between noon to 6 p.m. and $20 for 6 p.m. to midnight.

However, if there were no calls between noon to 6 p.m., but there was one between 6 p.m. and midnight, the individual would receive $20 for standby for working noon to 6 p.m. and $37.50 for the call that had occurred between 6 p.m. and midnight, Melissa Stirrett said.

This all changed Wednesday when the Central Huron Ambulance Board voted to do away with additional payments for split shifts. Instead, the board noted the original intent of the stipend was to award a $40 fee for any 12 hour shift, not six hours at the end of one shift and six hours at the beginning of another.

“That’s the way it’s always been. It’s just been misunderstood,” said Board President Della Pratt, noting volunteers also get paid mileage to and from Bad Axe to accommodate their travel to the station. “It’s an extra perk given to them so (the Port Austin area) can have coverage.”

Pratt said at the time it was decided to create the stipend, the idea was only to have it for a year; however, the board has chosen to keep it in place so as to accommodate the volunteers.

Also, she said, the board is not requesting the volunteers pay back any extra pay they have received because of the miscommunication in pay for the past two years.

The miscommunication, Pratt said, was between the coordinator, crew and board. The board’s motion was not a cut in pay, she added, it’s just a clarification that ambulance crew members at Central Huron North will receive a $40 standby payment if they work a 12-hour shift and do not receive any calls.

She stressed crew members should have been paid this way since the stipend was created.

As for taking anyone’s resignation, Pratt said she turned her phones off Wednesday evening after the meeting, and she would not take any resignations over the phone.

Pratt noted she does not think the entire crew will resign. And if there is a shortage of volunteers to work shifts, then Bad Axe ambulance crew members will cover the area as they always have.

“I am sorry for the miscommunication, but we were clarifying and it was a board decision and we have to stand by that,” she said. “ … If the coordinator didn’t completely understand, he should have asked the board if he was doing (the pay) right.”

Chris and Melissa Stirrett maintained the pay has been administered in the same manner it always has been since the stipend was created two years ago.“We’re outraged that they would make a decision like that without taking into consideration they’ve already paid people that amount for the past two years,” Melissa Stirrett said.

Other crew members agreed, and decided to resign following Wednesday’s decision.

“It’s not fair. I realize it’s only about $20, but you figure $20 a day, three days a week … I’ve got bills to pay just like everybody else,” DePatty said. “It looks to me like my time isn’t worth anything anymore.”

DePatty noted he’s one of only two crew members who actually live in Port Austin. While the clarification in pay does not affect him as dramatically as others on board who live in other areas, he said he still felt compelled to resign.

“I don’t believe what they’re doing to the other people is fair, and I’m obviously going to support my crew members. One of them is a single lady with four kids,” he said.

While the $40 stipend is unique to Port Austin, it helps pick up cash lost in the fact that Central Huron North simply doesn’t have many runs and, as a result, EMTs make less per shift, DePatty said.

“We are paid volunteers and the reason we get paid to be volunteers (when no calls are received) is because in Bad Axe they get 2,500 to 3,000 runs a year. And in Port Austin, we’re lucky to get 450,” he said.

“I’ve been a volunteer with this ambulance service for 15 years and for them to take away something we’ve had for years doesn’t seem (reasonable),” DePatty added. “ … And what concerns me the most is the residents in Port Austin pay a stipend to have an ambulance in service, so why shouldn’t the stipend be paid to the people who actually do the work, not the board of directors who make the determination of how things are done?”

Melissa Stirrett noted she and other crew members wanted to speak to the media not to be vindictive, but to make the area aware there will be a decrease in response time if the local service is shut down and residents have to rely on a Bad Axe ambulance to answer calls in the Port Austin area.

She added the volunteers aren’t being selfish either, as they aren’t asking for a raise and have to pay for day care and forego going to work if they live outside of Port Austin and have to fill a 12-hour shift at Central Huron North.

“Two weeks from yesterday, we will not have an ambulance in Port Austin because there isn’t anybody who’s going to work it. That concerns me because you’re talking about Memorial Day weekend, and there’s a huge influx of population that weekend,” Melissa Stirrett said. “ … If you’re talking about the difference between an ambulance coming from Port Austin and an ambulance coming from Bad Axe, that makes a big difference.”

Spaces removed and title spelling correction...AK

Edited May 16, 2009 by akflightmedic

[ERDoc]

reportedly resigned following a meeting Wednesday where ambulance board members voted to clarify the way the volunteer EMTs are paid.

Anyone else see a problem there?

[Ems1997]

Anyone else see a problem there?

as far as I know the only one who has done aformal resignation is the coordinator. they did a verbal but she want it in writing so that will be the breaker as to what happens if they really resign.

Edited May 16, 2009 by Ems1997

[reaper]

I thought all these volleys did it to help their fellow man? Now they are resigning over not being paid? Can we say HYPOCRITES!

[spenac]

Wow this attitude would break Jason at JEMS heart. Perhaps he will right about it in his volly column. He pisses me off.

[Ems1997]

this service was only being staffed by 3 ppl full time. so they did some brain storming and came up with this stand by pay that when it first came out was 12 = 40 and 24= 80. but if we gto a call between say 6 am and 12 we got run pay and 20. now they are saying that they are not paying for half shifts any money. so if you are on call 12-12 you will not be getting your 40 dollars. so basically it comes down to you are making either 40 for no calls or you are making run pay. there is no 20 per 6hrs. that are worked. and that is the main complaint. I have not been getting the 20 for 6 hrs if I get a call i have only been getting pd run pay while the others have been geting run pay and standby. when i asked i was told no one else was getting pd that way but those working from 12-12 were getting run and standby.

Edited May 16, 2009 by Ems1997

[Richard B the EMT]

I have been in both volunteer and paid EMS agencies, and have heard information of "combined" (both volunteer and paid personnel) agencies, where the agency pays for a small percentage of paid personnel for hours when most people are at work, and unavailable for responses. This is usually during daylight of week days.

Admittedly, due to my starting in the EMS field as an unpaid volunteer, with no paid personnel in the entire agency, the concept of the "Combined" agency has always felt "wrong" for me. I do know that there are several such agencies within New York State, and the communities so served seem to be all right with that.

However, this agency, which is calling itself a volunteer agency, but only (if I am reading the article correctly) has 2 actual volunteers with 12 paid personnel, my opinion is twofold: 1) it is not truly a volunteer agency, and 2) if it wishes to continue, should either go full time paid, and change their status to that of a paid service, or call it a day, and fold up their tent.

[FireMedic65]

Hmmm yea, it's a volunteer service, you aren't supposed to be paid or else it wouldn't be volunteer. Go get a real job and stop complaining about not being paid when you volunteer your time.

[Ems1997]

this service was only being staffed by 3 ppl full time. so they did some brain storming and came up with this stand by pay that when it first came out was 12 = 40 and 24= 80. but if we gto a call between say 6 am and 12 we got run pay and 20. now they are saying that they are not paying for half shifts any money. so if you are on call 12-12 you will not be getting your 40 dollars. so basically it comes down to you are making either 40 for no calls or you are making run pay. there is no 20 per 6hrs. that are worked. and that is the main complaint. I have not been getting the 20 for 6 hrs if I get a call i have only been getting pd run pay while the others have been geting run pay and standby. when i asked i was told no one else was getting pd that way but those working from 12-12 were getting run and standby.

ok i guess i need to clarify something. all the services in the county are all pd on call. all the other services get a stand by pay and a run pay. the ppl that work on the service have other jobs that they go to. on this service some of the ppl are using it as there bread and butter. while the majority of us actually have jobs that we work. this service does not have the ppl to staff it without bring in ppl from the surrounding area to man this service. so that is y there is a pay system here. if we could go full time we would but there is not enough call volume to go full time. I only use this as a way to get extra money so if i am pd for just runs then so be it. that was how it was for yrs no one ever got pd on this service unless there was a run. so bc of lack of personal they decided to give us on call pay. that is how we got were we are today.

[akroeze]

ok i guess i need to clarify something. all the services in the county are all pd on call. all the other services get a stand by pay and a run pay. the ppl that work on the service have other jobs that they go to. on this service some of the ppl are using it as there bread and butter. while the majority of us actually have jobs that we work. this service does not have the ppl to staff it without bring in ppl from the surrounding area to man this service. so that is y there is a pay system here. if we could go full time we would but there is not enough call volume to go full time. I only use this as a way to get extra money so if i am pd for just runs then so be it. that was how it was for yrs no one ever got pd on this service unless there was a run. so bc of lack of personal they decided to give us on call pay. that is how we got were we are today.

How is that my old service had two paid staff 24/7/365 manning the station at a station that did only 40 calls a year, yet you guys aren't busy enough at more than one call per day to justify paid?

And these medics got paid almost $30/hr to do it.