Wake EMS staffing shortage hits during busiest month of all time

In an emergency, you dial 911 and expect that help is on the way.

But what happens when there are no ambulances available?

WRAL News has learned that’s the case in Wake County – multiple times per day.

On any given day Wake County has ten ambulances out of service due to a shortage in personnel assigned to drive ambulances. In addition, their call volume is the highest it’s ever been.

So how often are no ambulances available? According to Brian Brooks, Wake EMS assistant chief, it's several times a day.

But he assures that if you have a true emergency, they will be there.

To alleviate the problem, the county implements strategies like:

• Calling on other counties to help
• Temporarily discontinuing transfers from one medical facility to another
• Putting non-emergency calls on a waiting list so they can get to the most serious ones first

Bottom line, according to officials: You will get an ambulance if you need one.

"We are here to do a job, and we will make sure that that job is done," said Brooks. There is no interruption in services for true emergencies.

"If you call for a reason that's not an immediate emergency, you may end up waiting a little while," he said.

There are multiple reasons for the shortage.

The first big issue is that Wake County EMS is getting more calls – more than 10,000 per month. It was the busiest month in the history of Wake County EMS.

The second issue is a lack of staffing due to people being on leave – medical leave and military leave – and having fewer applicants for the job.

Help is on the way, according to Brooks.

"We recently hired 25 people. They’re in the academy now, and they’ll hit the streets in about a month, which will help," said Brooks.