![]() ![]() That's why ambulance providers in every part of the state must consider the mental health impact of schedules, he said. ![]() To cope, medics need a sufficient recovery or cool-down period, said Thomas Woodruff, a former paramedic and owner of Faithful Guardian Training Center in west Georgia. A recent study also found significantly higher suicide rate among EMTs. A 2015 survey also showed that paramedics and other EMS employees are 10 times more likely than most adults to contemplate suicide. Labor statistics point to EMS as having one of the greatest occupational hazards of any profession, due to the exposure to trauma. Work schedules are a particularly sensitive issue among emergency medical personnel. Grady, however, told the AJC that it is sensitive to the job stresses employees face and that it offers various resources to help them cope, including critical incident stress management and crisis intervention. “Grady gives great consideration to the health and well-being of all health system staff,” a Grady spokeswoman wrote in an email response to the AJC. In the end, it will be the people of Atlanta that will ultimately pay, though they may never realize it.” “People are hurting, crying out loudly for help, but no one is helping them,” Lemire said. Yet for months, he was ordered back into an ambulance, Lemire said. As a precaution, the medic told Lemire that he had removed his firearms from his home, and that he had begged supervisors to give him time off work to try to recover. The medic confided to him that he was consumed by suicidal thoughts, Lemire said. He points to a fellow medic he knew was in danger. He said that Grady is not giving enough consideration to the welfare of its crews. Lemire, who was also a training officer for Grady, quit over the new schedules. That’s not what Grady senior paramedic David Lemire and some other medics said happened. “Many of their requests were implemented.” “We had multiple employee engagement meetings for staff to offer input surrounding the shift configuration,’’ Grady administrators wrote. But in a written response to questions from the AJC, executives said that EMS employees had been consulted for weeks before the new schedule was adopted. Grady administrators declined an interview. “This doesn’t even touch the mental health and quality of life issues.” “That’s just the physical, tangible wounds this is creating. “This (schedule) will increase fatigue, collisions and safety incidents,’’ said Max Gunn, who has worked as a Grady medic for more than seven years. They say the schedules will worsen the pressures they face and, as a result, the risks to the public. That firm has provided local EMS service for the past nine years.But the new schedules instead have triggered a backlash among some medics. He also shared plans to hire some of the employees who currently work at The Medical Center Navicent Health Emergency Medical Services and provide ambulance service in Milledgeville and Baldwin County. Since Hancock County also has contracted with Grady EMS to provide ambulatory medical care, any one of the three ambulances or all three in Sparta could serve as back-up units to the five ambulances in Baldwin County, if an emergency situation were to ever arise.Ĭompton attended last Wednesday night’s board meetings at Oconee Regional Medical Center and explained what Grady EMS plans to do once it takes over the ambulance service later this year. “These are brand new ambulances they are not refurbished or leased,” said Bill Compton, senior vice-president of Grady EMS. The Atlanta-based company, a separate entity of the well-known Grady Hospital, also located in the state’s capital city, has already spent more than $500,000 to purchase of five new ambulances that will be based in Baldwin County. Terms of the new EMS agreement have not yet been released. 1.Īn official with the company submitted a transition plan to local hospital officials last week. Milledgeville and Baldwin County will become the newest territory to be served by Grady Emergency Medical Services when it begins providing coverage locally on Oct. ![]()
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