LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services testified in front of state lawmakers Tuesday that the state is hemorrhaging EMS providers.
John Holden, the board chair, gave a grim report in Frankfort about the dire state of emergency medical services providers across the state. Kentucky is losing more paramedics than its gaining, he said, worsening an already concerning shortage.
"It truly is a crisis," Holden said. "We have services that are going to shut down if we can't find a solution to this problem."
So many people are leaving the profession, Holden said, that fewer than half of the state's certified paramedics are actually working on ambulances.
Pay is the biggest factor driving paramedics to quit followed by the mental and emotional burden of the work.
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