Paramedics are sorely needed in rural areas, where small numbers of them are left to cover large areas. Difficulty recruiting and retaining such workers is straining rural health systems, Kaiser Health News reported April 7.
Although the workforce shortage existed before the pandemic, the public health emergency put severe strain on paramedics, exacerbating burn out and driving some to quit.
To combat the issue, some health systems are offering better pay, a tactic that is not available to under-resourced rural systems. Rural systems are often in most need of paramedics too, yet paramedics often gravitate toward more densely populated areas where driving times are short, response times are faster and health systems have more developed resources. Some rural health facilities are training other medical professionals to become paramedics, but some of these workers turn the roles down given the intense hours and added workload.
The issue is stark for some rural states, for instance in Montana, 21 of its 56 counties don't have a single licensed paramedic.
"The public has this expectation that if something happens, we always have an ambulance available, we're there in a couple of minutes, and we have the highest-trained people," said Andy Smith, a paramedic and executive director of the Grand County Emergency Medical Services in Moab, Utah. "The reality is that's not always the case when the money is rare and it's hard to find and retain people."