LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – At a time when recruiting and retaining first responders has become incredibly competitive, Lake County has implemented a 24-hour-on, 72-hours-off schedule for paramedics and EMTs to help recruit and retain more first responders.
Jason Graham, president of the Lake County Fire Union, said the change has already had an immediate effect on staffing.
“Over the course of three months, we filled every single vacant position, and those positions sat vacant for over three years, almost,” Graham said.
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Graham said the agency has more than 70 applications for both EMT and paramedic positions.
“It is solely because of this new schedule that we have seen this uptick in applications and people that want to come and work here,” Graham said. “We’ve noticed a significant increase in retention, recruitment and also the morale of the people in the field.”
Graham said Lake County is the first in Central Florida to make the switch to the new shifts and said it will have a ripple effect.
“We’re able to now staff these ambulances,” Graham said. “We’re going to be able to take firefighters off of these ambulances and put them on fire trucks, which is going to increase the number of guys that we have on the trucks.”
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David Kilbury, Lake County’s public safety director, said the schedule will be used as a recruitment tool.
“That’s the main reason that we put it out there to those EMTs and paramedics,” Kilbury said. “‘Which department do I want to work for?’ We want to make it more incentivized for what we have to offer in the career field of an EMT or paramedic.”
Kilbury told News 6 the annual salary for EMTs and paramedics will stay the same.
To apply for a position with Lake County Fire Rescue, click here.