A national paramedic shortage is being felt right here at home as the Cleveland Division of EMS is fighting an uphill battle to recruit and retain paramedics and EMTs.
CLEVELAND — The staffing crunch comes as the division’s call volume and emergency response data have begun bouncing back after pandemic-related dips.
“We have suffered from a lack of applications for a number of reasons and this is something that is common across the country,” Howard said. “We have seen a decrease in the number of applications for EMTs and paramedics, as we have also seen with police.” The city and the EMS union, CARE Local 1975 are negotiating a new labor agreement. Howard said Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration is supportive of making further investments into emergency services, both in terms of equipment and personnel.Mark Barrett, the president of CARE, said city leaders need to change how new paramedics and EMTs are recruited in order to compete for a dwindling number of applicants.Barrett said recruitment has been hampered by stagnant wages and growing workload.
The division reported 124,842 incoming 911 calls in 2021 compared to 119,272 in 2020 and 123,364 calls in 2019. Additionally, the division responded to nearly as many emergencies in 2021 as it did in 2019 . The pandemic-challenged year that was 2020 had the lowest number of responses to emergencies in the past five years.