Hamburg faces shortage of EMT's
Shifts are understaffed; volunteers needed
Speeding up the process
At their July 2 meeting, Hamburg’s Borough Council brought up the possibility of doing the background checks in-house, eliminating the necessity of the lengthy delay.
Police Director Wayne Yahm then explained that the state wouldn’t allow it, to avoid any potential personal biases.
He then promised the council that he would look into any possible ways to speed up the process.
HAMBURG — There's a shortage of emergency medical services volunteers in Hamburg, says Joyce Oehler, a borough councilwoman, Hamburg EMS officer and volunteer. Hamburg currently has 24 volunteer EMT's and drivers; ideally, she says, there should be between 30 and 35 in a borough the size of Hamburg. Though Oehler is the first to admit that “you’re never gonna have that.”
Discussing the problem in a phone interview this week, Oehler said the borough has missed “two, maybe three calls” since May 15 due to short staff.
When they are unable to respond, they have to call in mutual aid from neighboring towns.
May 15 is a significant date because that's when two borough residents submitted fingerprints for criminal background checks to become volunteer EMT's. All have been “waiting very patiently” since, according to Oehler. But they hadn't heard back from the authorities who perform the checks for the squad.
“It’s the state,” she said of the holdup.
Then Oehler got some deflating news. Earlier this month she checked with the state on the progress of those applications and was told that the machines had been down. All of the potential volunteers’ paperwork had to be resubmitted.
Oehler says she hopes to receive approval “any day now.” As soon as their fingerprints clear, the new volunteers are eligible to start.
What they want
Ideally, Oehler says, Hamburg's squad wants to have two EMT's and one driver per shift. Shifts run 12 hours, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. All volunteers are technically on-call for their assigned shifts and when alerted of an emergency, come to the EMS building behind the police station, where the rigs are parked.
Most often in Hamburg, she says, there are only two EMT's assigned per shift. Typically one can drive, so this scenario is still OK. But, the trouble arises when there is just one EMT on call and no one to drive. That's a situation that they have run into a few times over the last few months.
How to volunteer
A driver needs to be CPR certified and have training on the rigs but does not have to be an EMT, which makes it easier to find a volunteer for this position, Oehler says.
“A lot of people have taken it for granted that the volunteers will always be there,” Oehler says, but “daytime is tough, everyone has to work.” Sometimes even those available daytime volunteers face extenuating circumstances that make responding to calls impossible.
That's why Oehler and the rest of the EMS squad need immediate help. To find out more, call the EMS supervisor at 973-271-9031 or visit www.hamburgnj.org to download an application.
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