'A hard fought win': Austin-Travis County EMS vacancies at lowest rate in years
AUSTIN (KXAN) — More medics will respond to calls across the city and county as Austin-Travis County EMS continues to grow its staff. The department graduated its largest cadet class in history in March.
“We graduated 38 sworn field providers. So those new cadets hit the streets. They are now sworn medics,” ATCEMS Chief of Staff Wesley Hopkins said.
The new graduates helped fill open positions and bring down the department’s vacancy rate. Hopkins said that number was high just a few years ago.
“2021 and 2022 our vacancy rate was 24%. I ran the numbers this morning, we’re down to 14%. It’s been a hard fought win.”
ATCEMS Chief of Staff Wesley Hopkins
Hopkins said a realistic goal is to get the vacancy rate in the single digits. He believes that’s achievable as they continue with their cadet classes. Thanks to additional funding, he said they’re able to increase the number of academies to three per year.
“This next generation of EMTs and paramedics are phenomenal,” Hopkins said. “To watch the tenacity they show, their willingness to help people, their energy has really been a morale booster for, I think, the entire organization.”
The history of ATCEMS vacancies
Hopkins said the department currently has 88 vacancies, which is the best it has been in years.
In 2022, KXAN reported about the department having 163 department vacancies. At that time, ATCEMS said some of the factors contributing to this figure included increases in its vacancy rates, limited recruitment staff availability, burnout impacting staffing volumes and EMT application requirements in place.
In an effort to fill vacancies, ATCEMS outlined the following recruitment strategies:
- Increasing recruitment staff to include dedicated, sworn and full-time staff to assist recruitment efforts from other EMT and paramedic schools and agencies
- Increasing visibility nationally through EMS conferences, education institutions and marketing materials
- Eliminating the requirement of 12-month EMS experience for applicants
Recruitment efforts
Hopkins attributed their current improvements to recruitment efforts both locally and nationally.
“We are now starting to see a lot of the schools here locally kind of pick back up their EMT and paramedic programs,” Hopkins said. “We got some funding for a national recruiting drive, and so that’s precisely what our recruiting division and our human resource division have done is they’ve recruited nationally at different conferences.”
KXAN previously reported on ATCEMS and the Austin Police Department recruiting at the Austin City Limits Festival in 2023.
