To cope, medics need a sufficient recovery or cool-down period, said Thomas Woodruff, a former paramedic and owner of Faithful Guardian Training Center in west Georgia. A recent study also found significantly higher suicide rate among EMTs. A 2015 survey also showed that paramedics and other EMS employees are 10 times more likely than most adults to contemplate suicide. Labor statistics point to EMS as having one of the greatest occupational hazards of any profession, due to the exposure to trauma. Work schedules are a particularly sensitive issue among emergency medical personnel. Grady, however, told the AJC that it is sensitive to the job stresses employees face and that it offers various resources to help them cope, including critical incident stress management and crisis intervention. “Grady gives great consideration to the health and well-being of all health system staff,” a Grady spokeswoman wrote in an email response to the AJC. In the end, it will be the people of Atlanta that will ultimately pay, though they may never realize it.” “People are hurting, crying out loudly for help, but no one is helping them,” Lemire said. Yet for months, he was ordered back into an ambulance, Lemire said. As a precaution, the medic told Lemire that he had removed his firearms from his home, and that he had begged supervisors to give him time off work to try to recover. The medic confided to him that he was consumed by suicidal thoughts, Lemire said. He points to a fellow medic he knew was in danger. He said that Grady is not giving enough consideration to the welfare of its crews. Lemire, who was also a training officer for Grady, quit over the new schedules. That’s not what Grady senior paramedic David Lemire and some other medics said happened. “Many of their requests were implemented.” “We had multiple employee engagement meetings for staff to offer input surrounding the shift configuration,’’ Grady administrators wrote. But in a written response to questions from the AJC, executives said that EMS employees had been consulted for weeks before the new schedule was adopted. Grady administrators declined an interview. “This doesn’t even touch the mental health and quality of life issues.” “That’s just the physical, tangible wounds this is creating. “This (schedule) will increase fatigue, collisions and safety incidents,’’ said Max Gunn, who has worked as a Grady medic for more than seven years. They say the schedules will worsen the pressures they face and, as a result, the risks to the public. “This has been a laborious process and a deliberate process.But the new schedules instead have triggered a backlash among some medics. “I’d like to commend the attorney (Moseley) for his work and flexibility in this process,” Decatur County administrator Gary Breedlove said. Walker said he was comfortable with the language in the contract. “We’re going to have local people running these calls, we’re going to have a local manager and a South Georgia based system,” he said.ĭecatur County Attorney Brown Moseley said he had worked with Memorial Hospital and Manor CEO Billy Walker while drafting the contract to ensure it addressed any concerns he and others had with Grady EMS. We have a numerous amount of senior executives with vast experience working in rural medicine.”Ĭompton reiterated this was not going to be an Atlanta-based system. “This is Grady EMS’ first venture outside of the perimeter (of Atlanta) and into a rural county. “We’re looking forward to the opportunity and the challenges ahead of us and a long term relationship with Decatur County,” Grady EMS Vice President Bill Compton said.
The contract would go into effect September at the latest. The Decatur County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to enter into a contract agreement with Grady EMS of Atlanta. Decatur County Chairman Frank Loeffler (left) and Grady EMS Vice President Bill Compton sign the contract that was voted on at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting.
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