PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh EMS workers say they are understaffed and overstretched, racing from one call to the next.

Like operations throughout the country, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services is contending with a shortage of paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

From traffic accidents to people experiencing chest pains to addicts overdosing on fentanyl, the calls for service are constant.

With less than 200 employees, Pittsburgh EMS responded to more than 65,000 calls last year. At the same time, it’s dealing with retirements, on-the-job injuries, and a severe shortage of recruits.

Bureau Chief Amera Gilchrist has stepped up recruiting efforts and employed better use of data, but has had to resort to taking medic units out of service on given days as she tries to provide life-saving services to city residents.

“Any time we have to take units out of service is challenging. I don’t think there has been one call when the public has requested our services when we have not been there,” Chief Gilchrist said.

The men and women of Pittsburgh EMS have been able to maintain that pace despite being severely understaffed. Nationwide, there’s a shortage of EMTs and paramedics recruits, while the city continues to lose them to retirement and injury.

Those on the front lines amassed $6 million in overtime just last year, with one paramedic alone making $327,000. Five others pulled in more than $200,000, while 69 others made more than $100,000 in mostly forced overtime.

“When you’re forced to do overtime and you have a family and you want free time, we don’t wish that on anyone,” says Pittsburgh councilman Anthony Coghill (D).

Managing the staffing shortage and keeping EMS afloat falls to its chief, Gilchrist, who has begun using data to better marshal EMTs to basic calls and the more highly-skilled paramedics to the more serious ones. She’s also taken the controversial step of taking some units out of service on a given day, sidelining one of the medic units in Homewood indefinitely.

At the same time, Gilchrist says she’s trying to address the strain on her employees.

“We care about the mental health of our employees. It has fallen by the wayside in recent years, but that is the reason why we have a hiring and recruitment initiative going on, and it’s going to take time,” Gilchrist added.

This year, Gilchrist has hired 30 additional employees. Some of them are from the Freedom House in the Hill District, named after the original African-American ambulance service which formed the nucleus of EMS Bureau in the early 1970s.

The paramedic union is currently in contract talks with the city, asking for higher base pay and a lifting of the city’s residency requirement, which no longer applies to city police and firefighters.

“Ideally, no, I would not like to see them lift the residency requirement, but if that’s what it takes to get our medic units up to full staff, I’ll let the collective bargaining hash that out,” Coghill said.

Gilchrist believes the EMS will be made whole in time.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint. It didn’t get this way overnight and it’s not going to be fixed overnight, but we are hitting the pavement to get this initiative pushed forward,” Gilchrist said.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for as Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes was in his first season in the big leagues, he wasn’t the only rookie to have a stellar season.

MLB.com’s Jim Callis ranked the rookies from the 2024 season based on their long-term value and had Skenes at No. 3. The Pirates ace trailed Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio who was No. 1 and San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill at No. 2.

Callis noted how good all three players were in 2024 and how one could make an argument for either of the three without receiving much pushback.

“You could list those players in any order and easily support your argument,” Callis writes. “The call here is the position players over Skenes because of the fragility of pitchers, and Chourio over Merrill because he’s a year younger and has more upside. It will be great fun to watch how their careers play out over the next 15-20 years.”

Skenes had a historic rookie season, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA over his 23 starts and he set a Pirates rookie record with 170 strikeouts. Skenes was the first pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 2.20 and over 150 strikeouts in their first 21 games and the second pitcher since 1913 to have an ERA below 2.00 through their first 22 appearances.

Skenes is a finalist for the NL Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young award, making him the first pitcher to be in the top three for both awards since Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins in 2013. The Pirates star is the fifth pitcher in MLB history to be a finalist for both awards, and the late great Los Angeles Dodgers ace Fernando Valenzuela is the only pitcher to win both when he accomplished the feat in 1981.

Skenes was also the first rookie pitcher since Dodgers right-hander Hideo Nomo in 1995 to start an All-Star game.

“Among rookies age 22 or younger who worked at least 125 innings, Skenes posted the best ERA+ (214), the best ERA (1.96) and the second-best K/BB ratio (5.3) since the lively ball was introduced in 1920, the third-best strikeout rate (11.5 per nine innings) and the sixth-best hit rate (6.4 per nine),” Callis wrote.

Skenes’ teammate, rookie right-hander Jared Jones also made the list at No. 15.

The winner of the NL Rookie of the Year will be announced on Monday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Skenes, Chourio and Merrill are the three finalists for the award in the National League.

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