In Maine, a looming vaccine deadline for EMTs is stressing small-town ambulance crews

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In between answering 911 calls, Jerrad Dinsmore (left) and Kevin LeCaptain perform a wellness check at the home of a woman in her nineties. The ambulance team in the small town of Waldoboro, Maine was already short-staffed. Then a team member quit recently, after the state mandated all health care workers get the COVID-19 vaccine.





Patty Wight/Maine Public Radio



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Patty Wight/Maine Public Radio





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Waldoboro’s EMS director, Richard Lash, is working 120 hours a week to help cover the vacancies. He’s 65 and has plans to retire next year.





Patty Wight/Maine Public Radio



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Patty Wight/Maine Public Radio




Waldoboro’s EMS director, Richard Lash, is working 120 hours a week to help cover the vacancies. He’s 65 and has plans to retire next year.


Patty Wight/Maine Public Radio

But Maine’s Public Safety Commissioner, Mike Sauschuck, says EMS departments also risk staff shortages if workers are exposed to COVID and have to isolate or quarantine.

«Win-win scenarios are often talked about but seldom realized,» he says. «So sure, you may have a situation where staffing concerns are a reality in communities. But for us, we do believe the broader impact, the safer impact on our system is through vaccination.»

Some EMS departments in Maine have complied fully with the mandate, with no one quitting. Andrew Turcotte, the Fire Chief and Director of EMS for the city of Westbrook, says all 70 of his staff members are now vaccinated. He doesn’t see the new mandate as being any different from the vaccine requirements to attend school or to enter the healthcare field.

«I think that we all have not only a social responsibility but a moral one,» Turcotte says. «We chose to get into the healthcare field, and with that comes responsibilities and accountabilities. That includes ensuring that you’re vaccinated.»

Statewide numbers released Wednesday show close to 97% of EMS workers in Maine have gotten vaccinated. But that varies by county: rural Piscataquis and Franklin counties reported that 18% and 10% of EMS employees, respectively, are still unvaccinated as of mid-October.

Not all EMS departments have reported their vaccination rates to the state. Waldoboro is in Lincoln County, where only 8 of the 12 departments have reported their rates. Among those 8, the rate of noncompliance was just 1.6%.

But in small departments like Waldoboro, the loss of even one staff member can create a huge logistical problem. Over the past few months, Waldoboro’s EMS director, Richard Lash, started working 120 hours a week to help cover the vacancies. He’s 65 and is planning to retire next year.

«I’ve told my town manager that we’ll do the best we can do. But, you know, I can’t continue to work 120 hours a week to fill shifts,» says Lash. «I’m getting old. And I just can’t keep doing that.»

This story was produced as part of NPR’s health reporting partnership with Maine Public Radio and Kaiser Health News (KHN).