By Daniel Connolly
The Memphis Commercial Appeal
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Paramedic Ted Novak recently drove a big needle into a man’s chest to re-inflate a lung that had been pierced by a bullet. Later, he called his paramedic buddies back home to tell them about it.
“None of my friends have ever done that before in Ohio,” the 24-year-old said.
It wasn’t so long ago that Novak was in a quiet suburban area near Cleveland, working full-time at an ambulance service as well as part-time for a fire department.
Then he learned of a chance to work for a fire department in a big city. Memphis was hiring.
He’s one of more than 100 paramedics from the Buckeye State to join the Memphis Division of Fire Services since the start of 2008. It was a matter of supply and demand: The Memphis area has few trained paramedics and Ohio has too many.
And Novak and others liked the prospect of working for a busy department where they would gain experience treating serious medical cases they’re unlikely to see at home, ranging from shootings to emergency deliveries of babies.
When Novak’s class at the training academy started Jan. 28, 2008, it consisted almost entirely of Ohioans, some of whom had left their home departments in big groups.
They earn more than $50,000 in the first year, or about $25 per hour, with the opportunity to earn more through promotions. By contrast, Novak was making $14 per hour at the better paid of his two jobs.
Intense competition meant getting a job at a large fire department in Ohio would have been very difficult. There are 95 accredited emergency medical programs in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety . Nearly 600 new paramedics went on the market last year.
By contrast, there are only 14 accredited emergency medical programs in Tennessee, and Southwest Tennessee Community College , which has one of the biggest programs in the state, graduates only 40 to 60 paramedics per year, program director Glenn Faught said.
The Ohio-to-Memphis pipeline dates to October 2007, when Memphis Deputy Fire Chief Gary Ludwig went to a conference in Orlando.
He was waiting in line to buy a soft pretzel when he struck up a conversation with someone who mentioned Ohio’s paramedic surplus.
At the time, Memphis faced a paramedic shortage that was so serious that the few workers left were logging long overtime hours.
In a short time, Memphis had mailed invitations to paramedics across Ohio.
In all, the department hired about 150 people, 75 percent of them from Ohio, the fire department’s Lt. Pam Kiestler said.
The number of paramedics on the streets of Memphis rose from about 140 to about 270 - the numbers don’t add up because some were promoted to administration.
Ludwig says the hiring has slowed down and that the new people are making a difference. “We’re more capable of saving lives.”
One of those who came was Angelo Piccirillo, who was working three part-time emergency service jobs, unable to find a full-time position.
The 24-year-old took tests in Memphis and became one of about five paramedics to leave the Chester Township fire department east of Cleveland.
“We all love it,” Piccirillo said. “We’re not leaving here. We’re trying to get more people to come down here.”
It was difficult for Chester Township to lose good people, but not hard to find others willing to take their places, said the department’s Lt. David Saltenis.
“My chief has a drawer full of applications from people wanting to get hired,” he said. Job openings in Ohio often attract hundreds of applicants, he said.
Herb de la Porte of LifeCare Ambulance in the Cleveland suburbs says his service lost five people to Memphis, including Novak.
“It left us shorthanded, yes absolutely, because you can’t shake a tree and get paramedics,” he said. “That’s obviously why Memphis went all the way to the Canadian border to recruit people.”
The department used overtime until it hired replacements.
He believes that the chance to work at a big fire department and a sense of adventure was what drew people to Memphis, rather than the higher pay.
Emergency workers tend to be people who like novelty and change, he said. “These are people that are looking for a lot of action.”
Action is appealing to Francis Wallingford, who had wanted to be a full-time firefighter ever since a visit by paramedics to his high school years earlier. “It seemed like an exciting job, and you get to help people every day,” he said.
Unlike Novak and Piccirillo, who are single, the 27-year-old Wallingford brought with him a wife and three children. He quickly found friends among firefighters, but said his wife, a nurse, had a harder time getting to know people.
Besides decompressing the gunshot victim’s lung, Novak says, another highlight of his time here was saving the life of someone in cardiac arrest.
“The more experience you have, the better care you’re going to give your patients,” he said. “The less stress you have.”
Copyright 2009 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.