Since the pandemic started, there has been a shortage of healthcare workers. In northern New York, emergency services personnel like EMTs are run entirely by volunteers. Most of the volunteers are from the older generation who decided to quit because of COVID health concerns.
Sackets Harbor, a town on the edge of Lake Ontario, is fortunate to have teenagers stepping in. Just like any other community, they have a volunteer fire department. Their EMS crew or ambulance service would take at least a call a day.
The EMS captain is 20-year old Grayden Brunet. He manages the budget and organizes the crew, which is composed of 8 people, all under the age of 21.
When the young, energetic trio joined a few years ago, some of the previous EMS crew were able to step back a bit. Then, the pandemic hit. Brunet says a lot of the older EMTs stopped responding to calls altogether.
"We came in one day and we realized we were the only ones coming in."
Those were hard days, says Brazie. None of them were certified to drive the ambulance, and the agency actually changed the rules so they could get certified at a younger age and with less experience. [...]
They say it was never an option for the three of them to stop running the town’s ambulance. Brunet says that they never even considered it.
"Honestly, it comes down to if we stopped volunteering our time here, this agency would no longer exist. The community would lose the ambulance and it would be detrimental. So we don't really have a choice."
Learn more about their challenges over at northcountrypublicradio.org
All Images: Amy Feiereisel
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