Youth Movement Revives EMS Efforts in Pennsylvania

LAWN -- All Rick Beverlin can remember about the accident are the flashing lights and the ambulance crew.

And now, more than a decade later, he says he will never forget those scant memories -- or the effect they have had on him.

Beverlin was only 5 or 6 years old when a roll of paper fell on his hand, splitting it open, while he was visiting his father at a paper plant in Lancaster County. Today, the 17-year-old is one of the emergency medical technicians who volunteers for Lawn Ambulance.

His own early experience, he says, set him on his career path.

"I've known most of my life that I wanted to do something in the medical field," the Lancaster County teen said.

With a shortage of EMTs looming, a state group has stepped up recruitment efforts, targeting junior-and senior-high students with a 60-second "high-impact, high-energy" movie trailer, which started running Friday in 50 theaters across the state, including the Palmyra Cinema Center.

C. Steven Lyle, executive director of New Cumberland-based Emergency Health Services Foundation Inc., said marketing studies show the trailer is the best way to attract the younger generation to the field.

But it's only a part of a larger, multifaceted campaign.

Lyle said the first phase of the statewide effort -- to bring back those who left the field -- has been successful. To date, more than 1,200 EMTs have returned to active status, he said.

There are 54,000 emergency medical service members at more than 1,500 companies in Pennsylvania, he explained. Those EMS members respond to more than 1.7 million emergency calls each year -- or about one call for every 10 people in the state, according to statistics from the foundation.

'A critical state'

As the state's population grows older, Lyle said, he sees the demand for EMTs climbing. The number of new recruits is down, while the turnover rate of existing professionals is high.

"We're on the verge of being in a critical state," he said.

EMS companies throughout the state are understaffed and, on average, have two to three positions open at a time, Lyle said. As a result, EMS coverage is farmed out to other companies, which can delay response times, in turn possibly endangering those who need help.

Oliver Feakins, Lawn's EMT administrator, agreed. He has mounted his own recruiting efforts for Lawn through classes at HACC in Lebanon and Lancaster, where he gives students a chance to see and work with the latest medical equipment inside in the company's units.

That's how he recruited Beverlin.

Beverlin eventually plans to get a degree in nursing, but for now he is working as an EMT. He is one of two volunteers Feakins recruited through HACC in Lancaster.

At Lawn, there are between 20 and 30 members who volunteer in general, not all as EMTs, Feakins said.

To entice potential volunteers, the ambulance company offers them the chance to get additional training, for which it pays. The opportunity to get more experience also can be incentive for potential recruits who, like Beverlin, are pursuing a medical career, Feakins said.

But, like many other volunteer groups, Lawn struggles to sign up and retain qualified and committed volunteers, especially those who can work daytime shifts, he said.

"Every fire department and EMS that is volunteer in this county has trouble getting volunteers during the day because people are working," he said.

To fill that daytime void, Feakins said, volunteer companies are forced to hire staff members. Feakins' post, for example, is a paid one.

"When there's a hole, there's a paid provider," he said. "Other stations have done this, too. Some went all paid and cut their volunteers."

A costly endeavor

It's expensive to operate an ambulance company, Feakins said, estimating the cost to staff an ambulance 24 hours, seven days a week with two providers at $130,000 minus their benefits.