Call to Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Workers: Share Your Experiences

Two non-profit news organizations, ProPublica and Connecticut Mirror, have launched a comprehensive journalism project to deeply examine emergency medical services (EMS) in Connecticut and how life-saving care is provided across the state. As part of this project, the aim is to benefit from the experiences of all professionals who work or volunteer in the field of emergency medical services. The visual of the news shows an ambulance responding to an emergency call in the city of Stamford, highlighting the critical importance of the issue in daily life. Relevant institutions emphasize that the realities on the ground cannot be understood solely through data, and that there is a need to hear people's lived experiences. Therefore, an official call is being made for everyone serving in regional ambulance units, fire departments, law enforcement, or emergency rooms to share their valuable insights.

It is known that the state's emergency medical services system has been under immense pressure and faced with severe challenges for years. However, despite these adverse conditions, paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and first responder teams continue to work day and night to serve members of the community in crisis. Although official authorities possess statistical data on ambulance response times, it is believed that these numbers paint an incomplete picture of what happens behind the scenes. Issues such as professional burnout experienced by volunteer and professional workers, staff shortages, and lack of resources cannot be expressed solely by numbers. For this reason, journalists want to go beyond arrival times at the scene to understand the actual operational problems within the system.

The news text wonders what changes employees have observed in emergency medical services since the day they started their jobs. In particular, critical questions are raised, such as why ambulance units and emergency care teams need more personnel and what obstacles are involved in recruiting new staff or retaining existing ones. Additionally, workers are asked what they want Connecticut residents or the state legislature to know about the current state of emergency medical services. This feedback from employees could help both the public and administrators better understand the system. The identification of such structural issues also has the potential to inform future policy decisions.

Journalists state that they want to understand the full complexity of the issue and are investigating every detail accordingly. Among the topics addressed are issues at both the individual and institutional levels, such as limitations in training programs, housing needs of healthcare workers, and budget cuts. Understanding the impact of these structural problems on the vital duties that teams fulfill every day is of great importance. In this comprehensive investigation, the opinion of every single worker or volunteer is valued as essential information that will shape the process. Guided by the news report, the aim is to determine the steps that can be taken to improve these difficult working conditions through information gathered directly from the field.

A short and practical form has been prepared for those who wish to share their experiences, and journalists stated that they will carefully read every response received and may contact the respondents directly regarding the matter. Furthermore, to ensure transparency, the email addresses of Cassandra Garibay from ProPublica and Jenna Carlesso from Connecticut Mirror have been openly shared for those who have questions or concerns. Those who do not work in emergency medical services in Connecticut but know people who do are also asked to support the research by forwarding this form to the relevant individuals. Moreover, a separate patient experience form, where patients who have previously called 911 for a medical emergency can share their experiences, has been shared with the community. This broad call for participation aims to ensure that the voices of both workers and citizens are heard and that the state's health infrastructure is reported more robustly.