Maricopa Ambulance furloughs nearly 100 employees due to COVID-19
PHOENIX - Maricopa Ambulance has furloughed nearly 100 employees after Gov. Doug Ducey's stay-at-home order reduced demand for ambulance services during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement from the agency.
The service said their patient transports dereased by 30% since the stay-at-home order went into effect in March.
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"Because these orders have been effective, the health care industry is currently having to adapted to a temporary but dramatic decline in demand for services," the statement read.
The drop in transports translates to a drop in revenue, and then, there's also the consistent cost of personal protective equipment (PPE).
To compensate for the lowered demand, Maricopa Ambulance temporarily furloughed approximately 100 employees in mid-April.
"We want to emphasize that these are temporary adjustments. We anticipate the demand for our services will return, and our employees will be able to return to work in the near future," the service said in a statement.
Furloughed worker speaks out
On Friday, FOX 10's Justin Lum spoke with a worker impacted by the furlough.
The worker, who wants to remain anonymous, is applying for unemployment, is never predicted to be furloughed.
"The job field that I’m in, I thought I was 100% safe and actually needed because, well, we are needed," said the worker.
The worker says there may be unintended consequences.
"The thing that boggles my mind is they are 100% short staffing the areas that we service," the worker said. "So let’s say that there’s four ambulances on and six calls go out all at the same time, which has been known to happen. Where are they gonna get those other two ambulances from?"
The worker says calls come in waves, and believes the move puts around 30% to 40% of the EMTs out of work. The worker hopes the active employees don't get burned out, as they take on the extra load.
"If you go from somebody running 10 calls in a 24-hour shift to running 16+ calls in a 24-hour shift, barely being able to eat, not being able to sleep, mistakes are gonna happen and it becomes very dangerous," the worker said.
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