Athens County EMS Director Rick Callebs talks about his hopes to make Athens a career destination for EMS workers.
Only a few years ago, 50 percent of Athens County Emergency Services employees were part-time workers. This number has since been dramatically reduced. Rick Callebs, Chief of ACEMS, is looking to make Athens a career destination for emergency service workers.
“We want to attract the best workers,” Callebs said. “We want to provide the best possible service.”
In 2014, Athens County hired 16 emergency workers, while 19 workers left the EMS department — most of whom were part-time workers who upgraded to full-time positions elsewhere, Callebs said.
Callebs has also seen a handful of workers leave the department in 2015, with many heading over to Meigs County.
“They left to take full-time positions, and Meigs may have offered them better packages to make them make that switch,” Callebs said.
Callebs said in a previous Post report that Meigs EMS pay nearly a dollar more per hour than ACEMS does, and that his department had lost six paramedics to Meigs within the past year.
Callebs previously proposed to Athens County Commissioners that the starting salary for EMTs and paramedics be increased by 3 percent, which was approved.
“About a month ago, Rick came to us to increase the starting salaries for EMS workers to make them more competitive in the job market,” Athens County Commissioner Chris Chmiel said.
Chmiel and the other commissioners were noticing the department’s high turnover rate, as they would spend a good amount of money on training these employees only to see them depart, Chmiel said.
“It was something we needed to address,” Chmiel said. “We want to increase the commitment of our workers so we decided to approve the increase in wages.”
Increasing the wages has already had an impact on Athens, and has attracted workers from neighboring counties.
“One of our paramedics is resigning from my agency in a couple of weeks to take a position with ACEMS,” said Robert Jacks, director of Meigs County Emergency Services.
Jacks said his employee told him the career move was attractive because the pay and benefits were better in Athens, which wasn’t the case just a couple months ago.
“There is a high demand for paramedics in the industry right now, and they tend to go where the pay and benefits are the best,” Jacks said.
The job market for emergency service workers is becoming more competitive, Jacks said, which makes EMS directors’ jobs even harder when luring employees to their county.
“It is a challenge for EMS directors to find paramedics to fill spots right now. Higher pay and benefits will go a long way in that effort,” Jacks added.
Chmiel said that above all, service would continue to be the highest priority within the county’s EMS system.
“The best thing about making Athens a career destination for emergency service workers is that the quality of service will increase,” Chmiel said.
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