RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – The staff shortage has resulted in significant delays in the emergency number for the Richmond Ambulance Authority. Now even the mayor weighs up and calls it unacceptable.
If you call, the Richmond Ambulance Authority will answer and rush to the scene immediately. It should go relatively quickly.
“I recently read about someone who has an injury and I don’t think I heard from the Richmond Ambulance Authority in over an hour. That’s not acceptable at the end of the day. Unacceptable, ”said Mayor Levar Stoney.
He says he reached out to the agency to find out how to deal with slow response times.
“Our crews work hard every day, some of them answer up to 14, 15 calls in a shift for duty,” said Captain Chad Greedan of the agency.
The ambulance authority is about 50% less busy when it comes to the staff currently on the job. In recent years there has been a decline in the number of employees in the rescue service. The pandemic didn’t make it any better.
“Our call demand has not decreased much. It has actually increased since the pandemic started, “Greedan said.
Now the service is increasing wages for the workers and recruiting heavily. They are looking for people to join them even if you have absolutely no experience.
“Our training courses all take place in-house. You will work under our Field Training Officers in the field and our clinical department here at headquarters. We will train you to become an EMT, where you will gain both hands-on and hands-on experience, ”he said.
It’s about meeting a critical need that comes with a reward.
“Just the satisfaction of being able to help people on a daily basis,” added Geedan.
A new wave of employees has just started with the department. Some of them will take to the streets next week.
Further information on applying as an EMT can be found here.
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