Ambulance workers grab a side job to survive

If you are trembling at the thought of calling an ambulance or going to the hospital, then the Bureau of Labor Statistics will make you panic.

Фото: Depositphotos

Most likely, the person behind the wheel - and the one who comes to save you - is tired of overwork due to a constant lack of money.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, paramedics and emergency care specialists (EMT) receive an average of $ 16.05 per hour. This is somewhere at 40% less than the average American’s earnings and one of the low-paid medical professions.

Wages vary by state and municipality, but in many parts of the country the rate for EMT or paramedic workers is well below the threshold of a satisfactory cost of living. As a result, many of them have to earn extra money, often transferring from one ambulance to another.

On such attempts to make ends meet a large part of the workers in the United States. For example, this year teachers dominated, because of the low wages of which they have to take part-time jobs and work on evenings and weekends to provide for their families. But the problem of low pay for EMT employees and medical assistants is very rarely discussed outside of hospital wards. And the consequences are terrible.

“You get what you pay for,” says Fifer. “If you fund down to minimum wage, you're unlikely to get the help you want.”

Recycling and low pay

Amy Eisengauer received about 450 dollars a week after taxes. This is barely enough to pay her bills, groceries and car bills. Amy has almost the same schedule all the time: wake up, work out the 14-hour shift, go to bed and repeat again.

At EMT's previous work, Eisenhower worked daily, so she could additionally work at night and on weekends. She also worked part time at Starbucks for a while.

The EMT profession is associated with hazards that range from injuries and infectious diseases to many mental health problems (the suicide rate of EMT personnel is 5 times the rest).

Фото: Depositphotos

For some, it's another step toward a more lucrative medical career—experience you can put on your resume. For others, this work becomes the main thing for many years.

Why there is no money (and why this is a big problem)

Experts say that the complexity of the role of EMT is largely misunderstood.

These are jobs where it is required from employees to be clear about the actions of stress and have basic skills in everything: from CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to mental health education. But most people do not have a clue about what is happening in the ambulance.

“Most people think that in an emergency we come, we go to the hospital, and there is already something going on,” says Dennis Rowe, president of the National Association of Emergency Medical Specialists (NAEMT). "We are not considered an important link."

Фото: Depositphotos

You can look at the budget of your local government. EMT departments usually receive a portion of the funds allocated to police and fire brigades. New York, which employs more than 3000 EMT employees and medical assistants, allocated $ 321,1 million for the following year. Firefighters and rescuers will receive four times this amount. Smaller cities, such as Austin and Seattle, also tend to give firefighters and rescuers twice as many as EMT.

Insurance is another problem. Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates for ambulance travel in many cases, experts say, are lower than the actual cost of care. When ambulance bills are unpaid, they cost millions of taxpayers. And since ambulance services, like the entire health care industry, act like a business, salaries suffer because of unpaid bills.

There are other reasons due to which the salary of emergency medical care workers is so low.

Certification is minimal—only 120 to 150 hours of training are required to become an EMT (paramedics require significantly more). Ambulances in rural communities are often staffed by volunteers, keeping wages low for those who see it as a future career.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Medicine in the USA: expensive and even more expensive

What I learned about medicine in the United States when I got insurance

How to be treated in the US and get paid for it

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