BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Every second counts when someone calls 911. But a shortage across all first responder industries, including in Kern County, has caused delays for a couple of years now.
Some people from across the community told 23ABC that during COVID they waited almost an hour to get emergency oxygen through an ambulance due to the high volume of calls. But despite COVID cases decreasing, the response time has not gone back to normal.
Hall Ambulance, covering 94% of the county, is the main ambulance provider in Kern County. They started bringing in third-party services from Los Angeles to keep up with demand but according to Mark Corum, Director of Media Services for Hall Ambulance, the company never expected the call volume to remain high when COVID cases dropped.
"I don't think we anticipated that after the pandemic kind of calm-down, that call volume would still stay at record-breaking volumes," said Corum. "It was unforeseen."
Corum adds that he believes this is a result of people who were not able to get regular checkups or had their surgeries and procedures canceled during the pandemic.
"Another problem because so many people are using local ERs for primary care physicians. You are going to see ambulances stocked up, people in the emergency room standing, our crew standing, waiting to be seen. Because in health care there is a shortage. It is not just our providers," explained Corum.
Corum says outlining areas of Kern do have ambulance stations, but metro Bakersfield only has its downtown location. That is why they have ambulances posted in different areas of the city. They use data from previous years to predict where most calls will come from and shift ambulances to higher-traffic areas. Corum adding the response time for Bakersfield is eight minutes and 59 seconds, 90 percent of the time.
He explains the priority of various calls is dependent on a system by dispatch which classifies the calls.
That still means most of the medical calls fall on Hall, but many paramedics decided to leave the industry during COVID, and since filling those vacancies has been difficult, Hall has hired temporary paramedics.
"We are also contracting with a couple of ambulance companies in Orange County and Los Angeles to come up and provide ambulances and crews to go to calls during our busiest periods of the week," said Corum.
Hall Ambulance started working with those agencies during the summer, and before that were working with Kern medical strike teams. According to Corum, however, contracting with outside agencies impacts the budget, adding that they don't get paid the same amount for MediCal patients as the do for those with private insurance. The company is asking the California governor for an increase in the rates public insurance pays for patient transportation.
"If we can get that increase, even $300 dollars per transport, as opposed to what essentially is today $60 dollars for a MediCal patient to be transported, that is going to allow us to not only cover our costs, but give something back to improve wages and EMTs," said Corum.
Right now, the starting wage for an EMT is $41,000 per year, and for a paramedic is $61,000 annually. Both of these starting wages Hall Ambulance offers are higher than the state average, according to Corum. In addition, the company runs three Hall EMT Academies every year to recruit and retain new talent.
Corum says people who would like to work at Hall Ambulance need to be at least 20 years old and have a high school diploma or GED. Candidates don't need any prior medical or EMT experience. Hall provides new hires training for the first 10 weeks with the goal of having them out responding to 911 calls within that amount of time.
This training period is paid. Hall Ambulance also provides employees with uniforms, any textbooks, and pays the registration fee for new hires to take the EMT exam. The next recruitment window is expected to begin after the new year. Hall Ambulance posts updates for those dates on their social media pages.
