Paramedics: Pocatello Ambulances Are At The Breaking Point

Paramedics in Pocatello say they are overwhelmed trying to keep up with an ever increasing amount of emergencies.

“We’ve reached the breaking point where we can’t do anymore with the efficiency. It’s coming to the point where we can’t provide the kind of service we would like with the amount of resources we have,? Paramedic Greg White said.

The emergency calls barely gives ambulance crews a chance to breathe, let alone train.

“It used to be that we would try to plan our training and stuff like that but we just haven’t had the chance to do the training we would like because of the amount of calls that we’re going on,? White said.

And that inability to fully train for worst case scenarios, has those in charge of the department worried.

Weekly, emergency calls are getting stacked up.

Simply put, some times more people are calling 911 for emergency help then there are ambulance crews to respond. And when that happens, someone in need, simply has to wait.

“We are strapped with resources. Our call value continues to climb and our personnel are doing their absolute best to get to every call that we happen to have, but it’s getting to the point where we can’t,? Pocatello Fire Chief Mike Irwin said.

This problem should see some major relief in October, when a new ambulance crew can get hired due to a levy passed by Bannock County voters last year.

But Irwin said that won’t completely solve the problem. If emergency calls keep increasing at the same rate, he said Bannock County will be in the same trouble again soon.

“It appears that if we continue with the current trends that we’re seeing probably within a year or year and a half we’ll be somewhat back in the same situation again of not having enough resources out there to run the call volumes that we’re going to experience,? Irwin said.