Unions` Power Play at Heart of ambulance response time issues?

Feb. 04--VICTORVILLE -- As severe problems with the ambulance transport system in the High Desert continue, local emergency medical providers say they're committed to solving the problem -- but insist the lack of resources needs to be addressed.

The problems have been going on for years, those close to the issue say, but they were recently brought to the forefront when the San Bernardino County Professional Firefighters Union, or Local 935, decided to go public in detailing concerns with American Medical Response's ambulance response times.

AMR officials say their ambulances meet the required response times set by a performance-based contract with the county -- and also questioned the union's motive in going public, suggesting it was influenced by recent discussions of annexation of fire services by the Victorville City Council.

AMR also has questioned the San Bernardino County Fire Department's own ambulance response times. In a post on AMR's Community News Facebook page last week, the company provided a link to response time compliance reports for 2014, which show AMR ambulances meet response times at least 90 percent of the time as required by the county.

A similar link for County Fire's response time report is also provided -- but simply leads to a page which states County Fire "does not report and post their ambulance response time performance."

According to Inland County Emergency Medical Agency EMS Administrator Tom Lynch, County Fire is not required to provide these response times like AMR is.

"We have a performance-based contract with AMR; we do not have a similar contract with County Fire that requires them to provide that data," Lynch said.

County Fire and union officials, though, say the data is automatically uploaded to ICEMA's tracking system and should be available upon request. And union President Jim Grigoli says AMR's statistics on response times don't adequately reflect what lies at the heart of the issue.

"(AMR) wants to twist the stats to take the focus off of them," Grigoli said. "They want to blame everyone from the Fire Department to the hospitals for bed delay. But essentially, they need more ambulance units on the road, and that's the real crux of the issue."

Grigoli said AMR and ICEMA need to lead the way in overhauling the system.

"AMR needs more units on the road in order to continue to meet those response times," Grigoli said. "But no one is accountable for keeping track of how many units are on the road."

Adam Verduzco, sergeant at arms for the local branch of the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics Union, or IAEP Local R12-152, agreed with many of Grigoli's statements, especially regarding AMR's response compliance times.

In a Thursday interview with the Daily Press, Verduzco and AMR Emergency Medical Technician and IAEP Union Vice President Michael Romero detailed how severe staffing issues at AMR's Victorville division are playing a direct role in ambulance response times.

"We don't care about how AMR is meeting the 90 percent (compliance rate); we care about that 10 percent that isn't met," Verduzco said. "We work in an industry that depends on our services 100 percent of the time."

According to Romero and Verduzco, there are only 23 full-time paramedics working at AMR's Victorville division. The lack of available paramedics leads to a domino effect in which paramedics are constantly overworked, causing fewer ambulances to be available to respond to incidents, which in turn leads to a "Level Zero" scenario.

"AMR is desperately trying to fill the holes with supervisors and overtime shifts but it's not enough," Verduzco said. "We've been dealing with these issues for a decade now. AMR needs to improve their recruitment model and benefits package to increase staffing."

AMR Director of Communications and Government Relations Jason Sorrick said 20 paramedics left AMR's Victorville division to work for County Fire in 2016, which accounts for 45 percent of AMR's paramedic workforce in the area.

While it's not uncommon for paramedics to move on to other careers, Sorrick said the high number of hires by the Fire Department has significantly impacted AMR's turnover rate.

"When you combine the thousands of hours we experience in bed delays every month, our ability to meet staffing needs in this market has been extremely difficult," Sorrick said in an email. "We continue to struggle to meet our staffing needs and experience a turnover rate close to 25 percent."

Sorrick said the company is actively hiring and currently offers a $10,000 signing bonus to new paramedics, as well as tuition reimbursement for EMTs looking to become paramedics. He also said the company's compensation for paramedics is comparable to County Fire's.

"AMR's top step paramedic range is $89,000 a year," Sorrick said. "We invest heavily in training our paramedic and EMTs, and have one of the most robust new hire and continuing education training programs in the industry."

But to IAEP Local R12-152 members, these efforts are not enough to keep longtime employees from jumping ship, and the union is seeking solutions by meeting with officials from AMR's corporate division to discuss how these staffing issues can be resolved.

While unable to come to an agreement during a first meeting on Tuesday, Romero said a second meeting is set for Tuesday. If an agreement can't be reached by then, the union will look at "other options," Verduzco said, including reaching out to hospital unions and County Fire.

"We have employees that have been with us for 10 to 15 years that are ready to leave," Romero said. "(AMR) is running our paramedics to the ground. Enough is enough already."

Paola Baker may be reached at 760-955-5332 or PBaker@VVDailyPress.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DP_PaolaBaker.

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