Lebanon Fire District changes emergency services due to funding and staffing issues

LEBANON, Ore. (KPTV) – Across the state, emergency responders have faced many challenges in recent years, especially in the more rural parts of Oregon. This is evident in towns like Lebanon, where the fire district has announced it will no longer conduct non-emergency calls overnight.

The two main issues they see here in the Lebanon Fire District are staffing and funding. The division’s chief of operations says they are doing everything they can to make ends meet, including cutting some services.

The LFD has two types of crews operating its ambulances – the first is called a dual role crew.

“These are firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians who respond to fires and medical transport,” explained John Tacy, LFD Division Chief of Operations.

Then there are the paramedics with individual functions.

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“These are paramedics and emergency medical technicians who only perform transport,” Tacy added.

Now, the department has switched its single-duty paramedics to part-time work. A single-duty ambulance is staffed 10 hours a day, instead of 24. This new shift also consists of 2 days on and 2 days off, with no night shifts. According to Tacy, this change is due to the difficulty in recruiting and retaining paramedics.

“The pool of paramedics in this state is small, so there is a lot of competition,” Tacy said. “Larger metropolitan areas can therefore offer more money and different hours.”

The good news, Tacy said, is that this schedule change will not affect 911 response times, although there will be delays for non-emergency calls.

“This creates some inconvenience for members of our district who are being treated here at the hospital, and the inconvenience is that they may have to stay in the hospital for much longer than they would like,” Tacy said.

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The Lebanon Fire Department is already taking steps to address this staffing shortage.

“We work with the high school here and support the EMR program, which is the entry point into the program. Many of the people we’ve hired have gone through that program,” Tacy said.

Tacy adds that rising equipment costs and lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid also led to the necessary schedule changes.

While they will continue to work with schools and try to encourage students to pursue careers as paramedics, Tacy says finding new sources of funding will be particularly helpful for small rural districts.

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