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Escambia EMS Increasing Pay, Manpower; Considering Medical Director Partnership With University Of Florida
June 29, 2021
Escambia County EMS is considering a new direction in medication direction training partnership with the University of Florida.
“When we go with the University of Florida…this will give us another level,” Escambia County Interim Emergency Manager Eric Gilmore said, stressing that the county’s paramedics and EMTs are already trained and certified. “Another degree of training, of certification that will allow us to actually build upon what we have now and make the system even better.”
There will be three medical directors for Escambia EMS, two of which live in the area.
Gilmore expects to present the University of Florida contract to the Escambia County Commission for a vote on July 8.
“Contracting with UF affords us the opportunity to bring in all types of training now. We can actually get a baseline training for our EMS personnel, identify the gaps, fill those gaps and build upon advanced stuff,” he said. “So the opportunities that we are bringing to the county are trying to make this system a much better system.”
In 2003, Escambia County EMS was named Florida’s Provider of the Year.
“There’s no reason we can’t get that again,” Gilmore said during a District 5 town hall meeting at the Molino Community Center. He said new EMS Manager David Torsell, who has been on the job since June 1, has set a goal to once again be the best in Florida.
“Since he’s been here three and a half weeks, he’s brought accountability back to the system that has been long needed,” Gilmore said. “We’ve got crews back on the road like they are supposed to be, answering calls.”
Gilmore said the starting pay has increased to $19.19 per hour for paramedics, which he believes will lead to an influx of paramedics coming into Escambia County. He said that’s competitive with other EMS systems to the east and west of Escambia County. Some of those pay more, he said, but don’t offer benefits.
“We are getting manpower coming back to the county. We are hoping to staff more ambulances down the road,” he said. The county is aiming for about 20 ambulances on the road in the daytime hours and 15 at night.
“That will get us where we need to be. Right now we are trying to do 15 in the daytime, and we’re getting 12-15. And we are trying to get 10 right now at night, and we’re getting around seven to eight, sometimes six, and we have to call in extra manpower for mandatory (hours). We are trying to fix those gaps.”
The low manpower, and the low number of ambulances on the road, sometimes mean parts of North Escambia are without an EMS unit in the area.
“I live up here too; my family lives up here. I’ve been here all my life, and I am dedicated to make this happen so that nobody has any issues with the EMS system or the fire system,” said Gilmore, who is a resident of Bratt. “I’ve been doing the county stuff for 25 years as district fire chief for McDavid, and this is near and dear to my heart. I want to make sure we get it right for you guys, for your family, for my family.”
Pictured: Escambia County Interim Emergency Manager Eric Gilmore speaks during a District 5 town hall meeting Monday evening at the Molino Community Center. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
8 Responses to “Escambia EMS Increasing Pay, Manpower; Considering Medical Director Partnership With University Of Florida”
Citizen is so right , Nashville would be a good place to move back to.
That would be a start for the rest of us.
Chris, I agree with you that the County is in need of a whole-hog cultural change, which will require replacing a number of directors, including some who had been there too long even before the prior administration hit the door, and others who were hired in the last two years.
Unfortunately, the same departments that were screaming emergencies two years ago are even worse now, with other departments having deteriorated as well.
What I can’t agree with is that the current administration and PS leadership should have worried about HR getting its act back together prior to getting this plan in action for our EMS first responders. Even if it weren’t the case that the department had been spiraling into chaos the last couple of years, Public Safety should always be the very first focus of attention. And in this case, Public Safety was in part such a mess *because* of complications from the HR department. Until the leadership of that department has been changed out, there is no fixing it or beefing up personnel there.
In the meantime, this forward-thinking plan is so impressive. While the combination of different medical direction for EMS and splitting back out the jail under different direction can and should have happened two years ago, this new plan has other vital change factors as well, and it’s apparent how well thought out and multi-faceted it is. This is a plan by career professionals who really know what they are doing. Kudos isn’t a strong enough word to Eric Gilmore and the new EMS Manager David Torsell for taking these steps. It has resulted in far more than a collective sigh of relief, but our EMS first responders having a spring back in their steps, and great hope for the future of the department.
A year from now, this horrible period can and should be behind everybody. Right now, things couldn’t be looking better for the people still working at Escambia EMS, and any first responder who will have a renewed interest in considering the County a great career path and a place of promise if you’re an EMT or medic. And I’m sure dispatch couldn’t be happier. Hopefully Fire will soon learn some more positive negotiating tactics, and recognize that the BOCC is ready to play ball if the other side is willing to follow the rules. Starting pay for Fire needed to be raised a long, long time ago.
Eric exhibits the leadership skills Escambia County needs to reform a stressed Department, like many County Departments. Agreed! Higher pay scale is needed across all levels of our local government to stay competitive with other surrounding municipalities. I believe it’s time for the Board to suck it up, and implement needed pay scale and training reforms for all staff level positions in most Departments. This does not mean contracting another expensive pay-scale study to sit on the shelf collecting dust, as to give the delayed appearance of considering needed changes. We’ve already seen the “study game show”; don’t you think? To fix the Counties staffing level problems, first beef up your already stressed Human Resources Department to perform the essential functions of the Department. What better way to improve the County overall, than to start with the In-house Department already tasked to provide Human Resources? Then the Board can support a budget representative of an adequate level of service
This is just so wonderful to hear–all of it. Thank you Mr. Gilmore and Mr. Torsell for your leadership and acumen, and thank you Mr. Reynolds for reporting on it. This article did so much good for the hearts of so many people today.
–Melissa Pino
@Citizen, I completely agree with you.
@Gator, Yes the Fire Department’s wages are abysmal as well. That doesn’t mean that EMS doesn’t need a raise in order to remain competitive in the job market. Remember where ECFR gets its emergency funding from. ECEMS piggy bank. .
ECEMS, unlike most other county departments, generates revenue. The BOCC uses ECEMS as a cash cow which happens in a lot of other bigger cities as well. That’s fine with me. The county has to pay the bills somehow. All I’m saying is the BOCC needs to realize that if they want to keep profiting from that cow they’re going to have to invest in the department and it’s people. You have to spend money to make money… it’s just business.
Perhaps a free or discounted training would help. In my hometown there is a private company that trains and certifies people. They never have a shortage of EMTs.
Citizen, the fire department starts at barely over $11 for FF AND EMT.
FF AND PARAMEDIC certified employees would be in the $13 range.
19/hr is still low for a fully licensed paramedic. It’s not bad pay for an EMT but with the level of education and experience a paramedic has it should easily be $25+/hr. Sure, you’ll get some paramedics at $19/hr but not the quality of other cities comparable in size to Pcola.
I moved here 5 yrs ago from Nashville, TN and i swear…. Pensacola still has problems that Nashville addressed 20 years ago. It’s like I went back in time when I moved here. Sad.