Illinois City Switches Paramedic Service; Ex-Employee Skeptical

Wheaton's decision to change its paramedic service for the first time in 20 years is either a solution to unsafe turnover problems or more of the same at a higher price tag, depending whom you ask.

Since he became fire chief three years ago, Greg Berk estimates nine of 10 Wheaton paramedics left within a year for better-paying jobs as firefighter-paramedics elsewhere.

Though Wheaton's longtime contractor, Schiller Park-based Paramedic Services of Illinois, disputes that, Berk said high turnover is "a problem that's endemic to the system of contract service paramedics."

High turnover creates safety, staffing and financial problems for the city, he said. The department is constantly training new paramedics on matters like the Central DuPage Hospital system, departmental operating procedures and using city equipment.

So with the contract set to expire April 30, Berk asked city officials late last year to seek bids from other paramedic companies, something it hadn't done for several years.

The city received only two bids, including one from its existing contractor. The other was Kurtz Paramedic Services in New Lenox, which Berk worked with as fire chief in south suburban Flossmoor.

The Wheaton City Council accepted Kurtz's bid April 3, even though it was about $11,000 higher than Paramedic Services' - and though, by Kurtz's own account, its turnover rate was 5 percentage points higher than Paramedic Services' self-reported rate.

Paramedic Services officials dispute the 90 percent turnover rate cited by Berk, saying it unfairly includes part-time employees.

Without them, the company said its turnover in Wheaton was 24 percent.

Berk and Mayor James Carr said they believe Kurtz will lower the turnover rate. The company is guaranteeing paramedics with more experience and higher salaries, two things that could keep them from leaving for other jobs.

'It's impossible'

Paramedic Services' Chairman Earl Fields questions his competitor's guarantees.

"It's impossible," Fields said. "I'm just giving you my spin, but I've been doing this for 35 years, and there's no way I could give you my word for something like that."

Berk agreed turnover won't go away completely.

"If we have a 20 to 25 percent turnover rate, I'd be happy ... but I'd still be working to get it down below that," he said.

Jim MacLeod is a skeptic.

He worked in Wheaton for Paramedic Services for 13 years before quitting weeks ago in frustration. He said Kurtz won't change anything because it's not the company that's the problem, but what he called a "hostile work environment."

"There's a constant line drawn in the sand between the union firefighters and the contract paramedics," he said. "The union guys think you're a scab, a piece of junk, garbage."

A Wheaton firefighters union official did not respond to several requests for comment.

Fields, who confirmed MacLeod quit, downplayed any firefighter versus paramedic tension. He said a certain amount of kidding is common in all firehouses. Some paramedics take it better than others.

"Only if you don't have strong leadership at the top," Fields said. "Otherwise, they all wear the same patch. There's a certain amount of animosity because we're not in the union, but it's a minor point. The chief there has handled it very well."

But MacLeod said much of the bad feelings can be attributed to the vast difference in pay between Wheaton paramedics and firefighters.

Paramedics go on all the calls firefighters do plus all ambulance calls.

But the minimum salary for paramedics with the current contractor is $32,000, according to a city memo.

The lowest base salary for a firefighter is $45,144, though most Wheaton firefighters earn significantly more than their base salaries because of overtime pay. Several earn more than $100,000 a year, according to city pay records.

"It's crazy. I'm not saying they don't deserve it, but it's all overtime pay," MacLeod said.