Todd Shroyer was already in his emergency vehicle when the 911 call came in.
An elderly man in a remote corner of Coshocton County, sixty miles east of Columbus, was having trouble breathing.
鈥淓MS one to central,鈥� Shroyer, an EMT and the director of Coshocton County Emergency Medical Services, radioed to the station鈥檚 headquarters, 鈥淚鈥檒l be responding.鈥�
He flipped on sirens and raced down a two-lane rural highway, past rolling hills, corn fields and an Amish school building.
Another EMT and paramedic were already at the scene by the time he arrived. Together they lifted the man onto a stretcher and carried him to an ambulance.
According to Shroyer, calls like this are common in Coshocton County.
鈥淲e have a lot of breathing difficulty,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t's gotten better. But when I first started, we had a lot of factories. We still had the coal mines.鈥�
Shroyer鈥檚 crew responded to this call in less than 20 minutes.
That鈥檚 pretty typical for the county, Shroyer said. But he worries that won鈥檛 be the case for long.
A statewide EMS shortage
Coshocton County has lost 40 percent of its staff in the last two years, and Shroyer is struggling to find new workers to take their places.
He鈥檚 not alone.
More than 60 percent of Ohio EMS administrators had an open position for six months or more last year, according to a report by the Paramedic Foundation.
EMS providers in rural parts of the state are hit especially hard. They cover wider areas, and many can only afford to pay a fraction of the wages offered in bigger cities.
Additionally, the pandemic has exacerbated a nursing shortage, so some hospitals have started hiring paramedics to work in emergency rooms, leaving even fewer people on call to respond to 911 crises.
鈥淗ere we run four crews,鈥� Shroyer said. 鈥淭here are times of the day when all four crews are busy. So if you're the fifth caller to 911, you have to wait. Depending on where you are, that wait can be 10 minutes, 15 minutes, a half an hour.鈥�
It could be worse. Shroyer knows of a county that had to drop one of its crews because they couldn鈥檛 staff it. Another only has enough people to respond to 1 in 5 calls.
So far, his team has been able to stave off a staffing shortage that severe. But it might not be far off.
Looming retirements
Of the 17 people on Shroyer鈥檚 staff, 11 have worked at the station for more than 30 years.
鈥�I started my training in March of 1983, so here we are 40 years later,鈥� said Dixie Harmon, a paramedic.
She, and many of her peers, are thinking about retirement.
But when they leave, Shroyer doesn鈥檛 know who will fill their shoes. If he can鈥檛 find younger recruits, he鈥檚 concerned people won鈥檛 get the immediate help they need in an emergency.
鈥�You don't want people to be fearful that when they call 911 no one's coming,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut if we don't do something at some point, that's where we're headed.鈥�
Harmon and Shroyer have both been working to attract young people to the field, but their efforts have met limited success.
鈥淧art of the people they see, maybe, shows on TV and think, 鈥榃ow, that's something I really want to do,鈥欌�� Harmon said. 鈥淏ut then when they get in and do it, they realize it's not for them.鈥�
Harmon and Shroyer both go to high school career fairs and Shroyer has even tried partnering with a local community college to offer free training.
鈥淲e couldn't get enough students interested to hold the class,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's just not the interest that there was 30 years ago.鈥�
鈥�You don't want people to be fearful that when they call 911 no one's coming. But if we don't do something at some point, that's where we're headed.鈥�Todd Shroyer, Director of Coshocton County's Emergency Medical Services
What鈥檚 next?
For now, people like Dixie Harmon keep showing up to work.
鈥淚f you're part of your community, you stay there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 guess it's just a matter of your community pride and helping your local people.鈥�
That local pride hasn鈥檛 been enough to attract new EMTs though, so Shroyer is left considering alternatives.
He doesn鈥檛 have the resources to boost pay, but the county is building a brand new EMS station using one-time CARES Act funds.
鈥淓specially for some of the younger generations, that's a big draw,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e're hoping the fitness area, nice quarters, individual bunk rooms, that those non-monetary incentives will help retention.鈥�
Harmon hopes that will work too. But if it doesn鈥檛, there鈥檚 a good chance she鈥檒l still be around.
No matter how alluring retirement is, she said, she can鈥檛 fathom leaving her neighbors stranded when they鈥檙e in crisis.
