SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Nearly one year ago, the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services raised concerns about severe staffing shortages among EMS workers in Kentucky.
Georgetown-Scott County EMS continues to take steps to be proactive as that issue remains. The agency launched a paramedic training class last year, and numbers are up from 20 in 2024 to 28 this year.
"We're celebrated here," Lexi Bowman said. Last summer, the agency celebrated its inaugural paramedic class with a pinning ceremony.
"We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from that, and I think that's helped morale around here a lot, to keep people to want to stay and work with us a little bit longer," Bowman noted.
Bowman took that step working as a nationally registered EMT and the agency's public information officer in a time when Kentucky still faces a crisis.
"We're not gonna wait for the future, we're gonna make the future," Jon Oesterman, Georgetown-Scott County EMS Division Chief of Training said.
The agency laid the foundation three and a half years ago putting this paramedic program in place addressing Kentucky's issue of high turnover among EMTs and paramedics.
"You were here last year when we graduated our class. All of those paramedics that graduated that work for us still work for us," Oesterman said.
But across the Bluegrass, last July, Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services Chairman John Holder told lawmakers the state was losing more paramedics than it could replace.
Wednesday, Executive Director Eddie Slone told LEX18, "The total attrition rate for all provider level in the 2024 renewal cycle was 14.89% which is down approximately 4% from 2023 renewals.
The Kentucky Board of EMS established a work force sub-committee that includes those from the community colleges systems, agency level training centers, and others. As a result of their work we expect modest gains in new grads this year. We have to continue to focus on the attrition rates and making the industry attractive enough entice our license holders to work in the field."
"I definitely heard about the struggles of other agencies especially rural agencies that have struggled to even staff EMTs let alone paramedics. I'm very thankful I work for a service that is really big on initiative and education," Georgetown-Scott County EMS Shelby Noelscher said.
Kentucky still has issues as far as wages and reimbursement for EMS personnel.
"We have a tough time keeping our trained individuals in the field. It is a very hard and demanding job and pay often doesn’t keep up.
On a brighter note. The paramedics working in the field is up a little over the past couple years. A lot of the credit goes to the workforce sub-committees efforts," Slone added.
"We don't go into this for the money we do it because we want to do it," Bowman noted.
As for Georgetown-Scott County EMS, their next pinning ceremony to honor new paramedics is scheduled for some time later this month.
