New legislation introduced by State Senator Monica Martinez will soon give paid first responders in Suffolk County the option to retire after 25 years of service, an enticement that could help address staffing shortages and boost recruitment of paid EMS workers.
Service districts will be able to elect to include certain EMS personnel in the state pension plan.
Originally approved in 2023, the plan was able to move forward thanks to a companion bill outlining a clear mechanism for fire districts to opt in. Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing of the new measure now establishes that process.
“Serving your community as a first responder is often difficult and dangerous work,” Martinez, whose 4th District lies in western Suffolk County, said in a press release sent out by her office. “Allowing this pension plan for EMS providers is a recognition of the challenges these professionals face and the hardships this line of work imposes on them both physically and financially.”
Under Martinez’s amendment, paid emergency medical technicians, critical care technicians, advanced emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and their supervisors will be allowed to retire with pension benefits from the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System after 25 years of creditable service.
Paid service as a firefighter or officer of any organized fire department will also count toward the creditable service required for retirement. The change will only impact members within districts that are currently enrolled in the retirement system and that choose to expand participation to the additional EMS-related titles.
While many of the departments on the East End are largely staffed by volunteers, virtually all of them now have at least one paid member on staff, and some have more than one. Changing demographics on the East End in recent years — including a large increase in the number of year-round residents — has meant demand for more EMS staff.
At the same time, many local community members no longer have the time or energy to commit to volunteering with local departments. Hiring paid staff is often an answer to the problem, and some chiefs and members of local departments believe it could be the way of the future.
Incentives like increased retirement benefits will help recruit more potential employees for the departments.
In a special section on health care published by The Express News Group in late 2023, the heads of several EMS departments on the East End spoke about the challenges they are currently facing and expect to face in the future when it comes to staffing.
The affordable housing crisis and associated traffic woes have made both hospital staffing and recruitment of EMTs and drivers for ambulance corps a challenge, particularly as the number of residents living in the area continues to climb.
That population growth has not necessarily led to an influx of new volunteers for the ambulance corps, according to Missy Hesler, the head of the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, who said in 2023: “We were already struggling with low numbers before the pandemic hit. We just recently have two new members, but we are struggling.”
Ambulance corps have had to rely more and more on paid staff to fill in the gaps in recent years. Sag Harbor experienced 200 more calls from 2022 to 2023, according to Hesler.
Joseph P. Louchheim, a volunteer paramedic with the Bridgehampton Ambulance, spoke about the reality in 2023 as well.
“We’re already well beyond a fully volunteer solution,” he said at the time. “I don’t think there’s a single ambulance company on the East End that doesn’t have some paid component. Most companies out here have 24/7 paramedic first responders on staff. There are some ambulance companies out here that could probably operate without volunteers. The difficulty is in managing that transition.”
While there are particular challenges on the East End, recruitment of EMS workers is a statewide problem. According to a 2023 report issued by the State Emergency Medical Services Council, the number of certified EMS personnel declined from about 80,000 to about 70,000 between 2019 and 2021, a decrease of approximately 13 percent. The report goes on to say that less than half of these 70,000 certified providers were working in EMS making the reality even worse than it is on paper.
Recruitment of first responders, both paid and volunteer, has struggled statewide for decades. Earlier this year, the Firefighters Association of the State of New York (FASNY) reported volunteer firefighter ranks across the state have fallen by 33 percent over the past 20 years. The state’s ambulance providers face similar challenges, with longer wait times, a shortage of volunteers, and funding shortfalls putting the emergency medical services system into crisis.
The 25-year retirement option is one of several initiatives led by Martinez this session to support fire and emergency medical volunteers and drive recruitment.
Cailin Riley on Dec 11, 2024