The union that represents Troy firefighters is sounding the alarm on critical staffing shortages at hospitals. It says ambulances are being forced to wait up to several hours to drop off patients.The union says shortages are causing a "ripple effect" that is impacting public safety.
In a Facebook post Tuesday, "Troy Firefighters Local 86" said twelve ambulances were waiting to drop off patients at Saint Peter's Hospital in Albany. The union says hospital staffing shortages are delaying department ambulances from answering other calls.
Troy Fire Chief Richard Cellucci said,
Listen, to be honest with you, there are times that severely sick people sit out of stretchers either in the ambulance, outside the hospital or in the hallway, just as they come into the hospital in the emergency room, it does happen.
On Wednesday at Samaritan Hospital in Troy there were 10 ambulances waiting to drop off patients. CBS6 spoke with paramedics off-camera who said the average wait time was above an hour. Firefighters say in some cases, wait times at area hospitals can stretch up to three or even four hours. Paramedics say the delays are the worst they've ever seen, even worse than during COVID.
The Troy Firefighters Union says it answered nearly 14,000 calls last year. In a statement to CBS6, the union said:
"The Troy Firefighters - Local 86 would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the community, particularly the residents of Troy, for your steadfast support.
As many of you may know, we have experienced a significant rise in ambulance turnaround times at nearly all local emergency departments over the past three years. Coupled with an increase in call volume, this situation affects each agency in its own way. In Troy, this surge not only limits our ambulance availability but also impacts our firefighting staff, as multiple cross-staffed fire units become unavailable when crews are needed to operate the ambulance.
We recognize that there is no simple solution to this complex issue.
We want to express our appreciation to Mayor Mantello and the City Administration for their proactive approach in temporarily staffing the "peak ambulance" (Medic 3) around the clock. Despite having this unit operational, we are still facing daily shortages of ambulances and frequently depend on mutual aid to support the city.
Additionally, we continue to operate below the nationally recommended fire staffing minimums for our fire apparatus with respect to our hazard response area. (NFPA 1710) Functioning consistently in this manner impacts public safety daily.
Despite these challenges, We remain committed to delivering the highest level of service possible to the residents and commuters of our City.
The union says before the fire department had ambulances in 1978, the city had more than 170 firefighters. Today, the union says it operates four ambulances while providing city-wide fire protection with 112 firefighters.
Since taking office, Mayor Carmella Mantello told CBS6 her administration has taken several steps to address the issue in the short-term. They include making an additional "peak ambulance" available around the clock. The city says it's also filling all firefighter vacancies and using federal tax dollars from the American Rescue Plan to pay for increased overtime.
"We have a city-run ambulance where other municipalities may not. We've had that now for 30 years. It's top notch. But we recognize the shortfall on the private ambulance side," Mayor Mantello said.
The mayor says a long-term solution will require partnerships with other municipalities, the county and state to address a systemic problem being felt nationwide.
At some point, some type of regional effort is going to have to be looked at because the issue continues to compound.