Worsening Austin EMS response times linked to staffing shortages and high cost of living
AUSTIN, Texas — According to city data, Austin-Travis County EMS saw a decline in response times last year.
Comparing December of 2022, to December of 2023, ATCEMS saw a 5% decrease in on-time responses in Austin and Travis County combined.
"I absolutely think that our longer response times are due to our staffing shortage," said Selena Xie, Austin Travis County EMS Association President. "On some days we have shut down up to ten ambulances, and that means that we have fewer ambulances to run more calls. So of course, our response times are going to be longer."
After the pandemic, emergency medical responders across the nation saw a spike in staff vacancies, and experts say we're still facing those effects today. But here in Austin, Xie said the reasoning is dollars and cents.
"What are the other barriers to get people here? At first, it was wages, and what we're hearing now is that, these people who are [applying, are] coming from very low-wage jobs. Yes, our wages are fine, but we can't get people to move here because they literally cannot afford to do so," she said.
With the cost of living in Austin at an all-time high, Xie said they're calling on the City of Austin to help, "We are asking Council to think about hiring bonuses or relocation bonuses."
She added, "We talked to a lot of our union counterparts and some of them have raised their wages to about the same as Austin, but they live in places where the cost of living is so much lower. So comparatively, it's a much more attractive place to work outside of Austin."
Council Member Mackenzie Kelly said she's drafting a plan that could help. "I authored a resolution that is moving through the process in our legislation related to cadet housing, that would work for police, fire, and EMS, and it would help EMS workers get their feet on the ground and save up some money while they're a cadet," she said.
But for now, ATCEMS Chief Robert Luckritz said going into the new year, they're focusing on how to address different priority calls. "Our real focus as an emergency medical service is making sure that we can get to those life-threatening calls as quickly as possible. So we have to recognize that those lower priority calls maybe they don't need to get to the hospital right away, and find other ways for us to get to solve those problems," he said.
Chief Luckritz said priority call response times have remained the same within the last year, and although vacancies continue to rise in the department, it could be because of the opening of new positions, "We're adding the Good Night Ranch EMS fire station in Southeast Austin."
He added, "The county has allocated additional resources for us to handle areas out of the city limits, we're expanding our telehealth program. That's 34 new positions coming into the fiscal year 24. It's going to take a little time for us to be able to get those folks through the academy, get them up to speed, and make sure that they are the absolute high caliber, Austin Travis County EMS and the community has come to expect."