EMS Needs Competitive Wages

“Mobile healthcare delivered with dignity, respect and compassion for the community we serve.” That’s the mission of the Fayette County Emergency Medical Service, which has been serving the residents and visitors of Fayette County since 1976.

Due to the magnitude of developments in local healthcare, that mission is more vital today than ever before.

I empathize with elected officials and taxpayers concerned about their increasing tax burden. I share these concerns. Still, to provide the excellent medical services our citizens both expect and deserve, it takes trained personnel and functional equipment.

In the past few years, Fayette County has come a long way in both regards.

In 2020, Fayette County’s EMS Director and Assistant EMS Director both resigned their positions within rapid succession of each other.

The county owned seven ambulances. Four were staffed full-time and the other three were operated as reserves and used periodically for standbys around the county.

Within days of my being appointed as the new EMS Director, all three of our reserves were in the shop with significant mechanical issues. Some of the fleet had over 350,000 miles on them. Vehicles were in various states of disrepair. At one point, shortly after my starting, one of our front-line ambulances broke down resulting in us having to staff one of the county’s four EMS stations with a pickup truck. It could respond to calls but, under state law, could not have any transport capability.

Besides equipment problems, about a third of our paramedic positions were vacant and no applications were coming in. People in our profession pay attention to what things look like. When people are being worked that hard and with failing equipment, it does not exactly attract applicant interest.

Fortunately, Commissioners Court understood the situation was dire and that significant steps had to be taken to rectify things. I made the commissioners aware of my analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing our county’s EMS system.

Also fortunately, American Rescue Plan funding became available at just this time. Without that funding, this county would still be in dire straits as it applies to EMS. Thanks to the commissioners court’s approval and at the urging of then County Judge Joe Weber, ARP funds were used to purchase two ambulances, remodel an EMS station that was in rough shape, build a new station in Schulenburg and fund a living quarters in the Round Top Fire Station to provide more timesensitive EMS response in the northeastern part of the county.

On top of this we recapitalized some mission critical equipment that was in failing condition or quickly becoming obsolete, such as ventilators and cardiac monitor/defibrillators.

There was also the issue of personnel. Fayette County paramedic pay was well below other nearby departments.

Last year the commissioner’s court granted 5% raises to county employees and we were able to rearrange funding in our own budget to give a little bit more money to paramedic positions. Still, neighboring services were passing us both in pay and in benefits. We had a three-month period in Q4 of 2022 where we did not receive a single paramedic application despite multiple openings in the schedule.

I am not deaf to the fact that a 9.2% raise to the EMS department salary schedule is a big ask. I maintain, however, that the proposed numbers are well-supported and consistent with (actually below) what comparable EMS systems in our region are paying their employees.

Salary isn’t everything, but to most it is a very important factor in the deciding where to start and continue your career. If you can make $3,000 to $5,000 more to do the same job, closer to home, why wouldn’t you?

I am only asking for the court and the citizens of this county to enable our department to offer competitive wages to better empower us to be able to recruit, train, and retain high quality staff. Without high quality staff, the equipment, vehicles and stations would mean little to the health and safety of our residents.

At the end of the day it is up to the commissioners. Elected officials have the difficult task not only of running a government, but also of running for re-election. I can only imagine the added stress that the budget process puts on that task.

I am very appreciative of the past support for our department and I am sure that in the future we will continue to work together as a team despite disagreeing at times, and serve our county to the best of our ability.

Josh Vandever, Director of Fayette County EMS, has been working and volunteering in emergency response since 2007. A licensed paramedic, certified firefighter and graduate of Blinn College and Sam Houston State University, he and his family live in Fayette County.