Amy Effet testifies on EMS staffing shortages and response times

Testing, can you hear?

We can hear you.

Okay.

Good afternoon, members of the City Council.

My name is Amy Effet, and for the past five years, I've served as an EMT across two private EMS providers.

I'm currently on a break from field service, and taking that step back has given me a very clear view of why so many dedicated, experienced responders are walking away from this profession.

When a resident calls 911, they expect rapid, high-quality emergency care, but having spent five years on the street, I can tell you that our system is reaching a dangerous breaking point.

To show you what this looks like in practice, last year I was dispatched to a patient experiencing a severe mental health crisis.

Because of system-wide staffing shortages and the lack of open units, it took almost 45 minutes.

Yes, you heard that right, 45.

Just to arrive on scene.

By the time we walked through the door, the patient had already injured themselves terribly.

That delay wasn't caused by a lack of effort from our crew, it was caused by a system that routinely leaves entire neighborhoods undercovered.

We are losing qualified EMTs and paramedics to burnout, unlivable wages, and grueling working conditions faster than we can replace them.

On top of that, units are routinely held for hours outside

overcrowded emergency departments waiting to transfer care, trapping available ambulances at hospitals when they are needed most on the street.

I urge the City Council to protect our emergency medical infrastructure in the upcoming budget cycle, A, by supporting competitive compensation for all EMS to fix the critical retention crisis, not being paid minimum wage.

To set hospital offload time limits so units can return to service as soon as possible.

When response times lag, our community faces real preventable harm.

Protecting our emergency medical infrastructure isn't just an administrative detail.

It's a matter of life and death.

Thank you for your time and leadership.

All right, so I think there's a...

We have an EMS panel.

I believe you, probably your intention is to testify at an EMS-related hearing.

Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

We're here for the management, the worker management oversight.

Yeah, this is a different hearing, which makes sense why we're getting a lot of off topics.

What we'll do is just, if you could just submit your written testimony to the

I mean, if you would like to testify on the issues before us today, you can, but I think what you're speaking about is related to a different hearing.

Is this public safety?

It is not.

This is not public safety.

Yeah.

Sorry, it is public.

It's not fire and EMS.

But it's not fire and EMS.

Right, but...

This is regarding public safety.

Yeah, this is regarding public safety.

Tie it to public safety as much as you can.

Will do.

All right.

Go ahead.

Proceed.