Letter to the editor: State's efforts to help pandemic-ravaged EMS agencies falls woefully short

On July 30, 2020, Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Rachel Levine visited the Millersville location of Lancaster EMS to laud the response of the Commonwealth’s EMS providers during the covid-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic, our emergency responders have become more important than ever,” Gov. Wolf said. “They have been out on the front lines of this fight, helping attend to covid-19 patients in their most dire time of need.

“They have had to adapt their practices to keep themselves and their patients safe, all while continuing to serve as a lifeline to their communities and support the health care system,” the governor said.

While the visit and remarks at that time were appreciated, it is the actions of the governor’s administration and the general assembly of this Commonwealth that prove that the essential frontline EMS providers in this war on the pandemic are merely political talking points.

The latest frustration to address the financial, physical and emotional concerns facing EMS providers daily was the decision of the Department of Community and Economic Development to award not one EMS agency that applied under the governor’s Hazard Pay Grant.

• EMS providers are essential workers who are the front lines of this pandemic.

• EMS providers face the highest exposure to asymptomatic, presumptive and positive covid-19 patients on every call, every day.

• EMS providers have contracted covid-19, and several in this commonwealth have died.

• EMS providers are some of the lowest-paid healthcare workers fighting this pandemic.

• EMS agencies have struggled financially from lost revenue, daily increased Personal Protection Equipment costs and increased payroll costs.

The Hazard Pay Grant was an opportunity to help EMS agencies compensate our EMS providers for the daily physical and emotional toll of fighting this pandemic.

EMS providers do not only treat covid-19 and other patients but are an essential keystone in preventing the spread of the virus to other patients and the hospital system through proper infectious control procedure and relentless sanitation.

It is time for the governor and the general assembly to heed our warnings and address the financial, physical and emotional concerns facing EMS providers and EMS agencies in this commonwealth.

Efforts to prevent the failure of our entire EMS system should be the main concern of local and state government.

Emergency medical services, the healthcare safety net and first line of defense in the treatment and prevention of the spread of covid-19, deserve the financial support of the governor and the general assembly.

We are continually responding and constantly forgotten.

Bryan S. Kircher, Executive Director, Ross/West View EMS