EMS crews have upticks in ambulance runs

Our Emergency Medical Services teams have seen and experienced a lot of very difficult and challenging things in their careers—for an already mentally and physically demanding job. This pandemic has been the unthinkable as far as what the providers have been through and experienced, especially in the past couple of months. They are tired and weary, and the continued state of the unknown makes the challenge that much greater.

You can see in the line graph, our EMS teams have seen quite an uptick in ambulance runs every quarter since 2017. Our EMS teams are asked to go on more and more 911 and/or interfacility transports simultaneously—these longer transfers leave the teams at home more strained to care for the other calls that come in. Unfortunately, this leads to patients having to wait for an ambulance (either a 911 call or transfer) until one is available from the last call.

A typical shift at EMS is 24 hours. Before the pandemic, EMS crews normally worked a 48-hour work week; now most employees are consistently working 72 (or more) hours a week. Staff have little to no down time in between calls to eat, use the restroom, complete patient care reports, and more. There are times when they are on their feet for their entire shift (again, 24 hours). And, staff are not only working at EMS (or on the ambulance), many are also helping to staff the Emergency Department, ICU, Medical/Surgical unit and Home Medical Resources.

CCH Leadership and Board of Trustees are asking you, the community: be kind and patient with our overwhelmed and overworked staff; wear your mask while in our facility; if you know someone who works for us, please reach out to them and thank them for working tirelessly to make sure you have a hospital bed if you need one; and most importantly, please consider getting vaccinated to relieve the pressure on our community healthcare system.

Please continue to protect yourselves and others, and help prevent more illness and hospitalizations, through eating well, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, minimizing stress, as well as taking steps to avoid infection or getting sick such as washing your hands frequently, masking, avoiding crowds and vaccination.

CCH encourages you to talk with your health care provider about the COVID-19 vaccine. To learn where you can get a COVID-19 vaccine in Campbell County, Wyoming, or for more information about COVID-19 vaccines, please visit www.cchwyo.org/c19vaccine.