{"id":39788,"date":"2024-06-06T12:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=39788"},"modified":"2024-06-06T12:12:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T16:12:00","slug":"emergency-service-providers-are-finding-the-work-of-saving-lives-extremely-rewarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/emergency-service-providers-are-finding-the-work-of-saving-lives-extremely-rewarding\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Service Providers Are Finding The Work Of Saving Lives Extremely Rewarding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Scott Skinner, Malta-Stillwater EMS executive director, takes pride in serving his community.
Courtesy of Malta-Stillwater EMS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Christine Graf<\/p>\n

For more than 30 years, Malta-Stillwater EMS Executive Director Scott Skinner has been serving the local community, racing to the scenes of fires, accidents, and other emergencies. Skinner joined the Waterville Fire Department in 1993, and it was while there that he earned his Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification, later working his way up to become a paramedic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Appointed chief of the department in 2011, Skinner retired in 2014 after 21 years on the job. He joined the Round Lake Fire Department as a volunteer, and in 2018, he was hired as the executive director of the Malta-Stillwater EMS, a private, non-profit agency.<\/p>\n

With stations in Malta and Stillwater, Malta-Stillwater EMS has 65 employees along with a dedicated crew of approximately 15 volunteers.\u00a0 <\/span>The agency\u2019s staff is fairly evenly split between EMTs and paramedics.<\/p>\n

\u201cEMTs are trained at basic life support level. They do splinting, bandaging, oxygenation, CPR, and those types of things,\u201d said Skinner. \u201cParamedics receive training that is heavier on cardiology and pharmacology. They also receive advanced airway and IV training.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>Although there was a time when the agency paid for EMT and paramedic training classes, that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, they would send people to EMT and paramedic school, but a lot of those people would then end up leaving to go to some higher-paying job,\u201d said Skinner, noting that paramedic school can cost upwards of $10,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For many individuals, becoming an EMT is a stepping stone, a training ground to prepare them for another career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average life cycle of an EMT is just two years,\u201d said Skinner. \u201cIn the EMS field, you tend to have older people who have been doing it forever or younger people that are looking to become firemen, cops, doctors, PAs (physician assistants)\u2014things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Skinner, low wages have also contributed to the high rate of turnover among those in the EMS field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pay isn\u2019t where it should be. Our EMTs start at $20\/hour, and our paramedics start at $28.75\/hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists EMTs as one of the lowest-paying jobs in health care. In 2021, approximately one-third of EMTs left the field, primarily due to low pay. Filling those job openings has become increasingly difficult for agencies throughout the country, including at Malta-Stillwater EMS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pretty well staffed before COVID, but since COVID, things have changed in the workplace,\u201d said Skinner. \u201cThe whole medical field\u2014not just EMS\u2014is struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Skinner, his agency is also facing financial challenges. They are funded by insurance payments and patient co-pays as well as by the Town of Malta and Town of Stillwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur insurance payments are decreasing due to Medicare and Medicaid. Those payments have increased very, very little over time. When we go out the door and make $300 or $475, that doesn\u2019t cover our out-the-door costs to go to that call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big problem now, and in the future it\u2019s going to be an even bigger problem. Not enough is being done about it. We need help from the state and from the federal government. Our reimbursement rates need to go up because the cost of everything else is going up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Individuals who refuse to pay their insurance co-pays have added another layer of complexity to the agency\u2019s financial struggles. In order to collect, there are times that Skinner has had to go to small claims court, a nuisance that takes him away from the life-saving work that he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people just don\u2019t want to pay. It\u2019s not a gigantic problem, but it\u2019s a problem. It\u2019s part of the equation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rising expenses have made the situation even more challenging, with the agency\u2019s expenses increasing between 40 percent to 60 percent since COVID. For example, an ambulance now costs $300,000 while just six years ago, the same rig had a price tag of $174,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to meet the financial challenges, the department looks for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith our Northway corridor, we work with Clifton Park and Wilton. We share things to reduce all of our costs. We try to be very smart with what we spend our money on,\u201d said Skinner.<\/p>\n

Malta-Stillwater EMS has six ambulances and two fly cars (non-ambulance staff transport vehicles). At any given time, there are three ambulances on the road, two in Malta and one in Stillwater.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As an Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider, the agency\u2019s crews are able to perform sophisticated interventions and procedures, far more than that of Basic Life Support (BLS) providers. They often save lives, stabilizing critical patients while transporting them to local hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ambulances are basically emergency rooms on wheels. We always have a paramedic on board along with an EMT,\u201d said Skinner.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the agency responded to 3,575 incidents, saving many lives, often going above and beyond the call of duty. In February of this year, Malta-Stillwater EMS paramedic Scotty McNeff played a critical role in rescuing a man who had fallen through the ice on Round Lake. The first one on the scene, McNeff crawled out onto the lake, throwing a rope to the man, keeping him afloat until the Round Lake Fire Department\u2019s water rescue team arrived.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a good company. We have good employees, and we work very hard to take care of our community,\u201d said Skinner. \u201cWe get to help people–we get to save lives and see new lives come into the world (Skinner has delivered two babies). It\u2019s very rewarding.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christine Graf For more than 30 years, Malta-Stillwater EMS Executive Director Scott Skinner has been serving the local community, racing to the scenes of fires, accidents, and other emergencies. Skinner joined the Waterville Fire Department in 1993, and it was while there that he earned his Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification, later working his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":39789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare"],"yoast_head":"\r\nEmergency Service Providers Are Finding The Work Of Saving Lives Extremely Rewarding - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2024\/06\/emergency-service-providers-are-finding-the-work-of-saving-lives-extremely-rewarding\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emergency Service Providers Are Finding The Work Of Saving Lives Extremely Rewarding - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Christine Graf For more than 30 years, Malta-Stillwater EMS Executive Director Scott Skinner has been serving the local community, racing to the scenes of fires, accidents, and other emergencies. 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