Falck, the city of San Diego's embattled ambulance provider, has taken an unusual step to enlist additional paramedics, offering a rich signing bonus to prospective employees.
In November, the city released a report focusing on Falck's performance.
“It's certainly been a frustrating year. They have not been able to perform the contract obligations,” SDFD Chief Colin Stowell said.
Data released by the city of San Diego shows Falck is not meeting its contracted 900 monthly median hours. In September 2022, Falck only recorded 756 monthly median hours.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
On Friday, Falck, citing a national paramedic shortage, announced it would be offering new paramedics a signing bonus of $50,000.
"The new paramedics will be reinforcements for our current EMS professionals, who are dedicated to serving San Diego with immediate and professional emergency medical services," Jeff Behm, managing director of Falck Mobile Health San Diego, the city’s contracted 911 paramedic ambulance provider, said.
New signups will see their $50,000 bonus portioned out in paychecks over the coming three years, according to a news release issued Friday by Falck, which also stated it was offering $10,000 bonuses to current employees who make employee referrals that end up signing up for work with the provider.
Local
Falck is also offering a $10,000 bonus to employees who refer new full-time paramedics to work in San Diego. That bonus will be paid out over one year, while the $50,000 bonus for new paramedics will be paid in every regular paycheck over three years.
In the report issued in November, it also showed that Falck was failing to meet the required Advanced Life Support hours (ALS). ALS are ambulances staffed with a minimum of one paramedic.
“We were able to provide 90%, almost 90% of the contracted advanced life support hours that we contracted with the City, and we recognize that we need to do better which is why we're working with Chief Stowell and the San Diego Fire Rescue Department on improving our performance and the number of ambulances,” Falck Communications Director Jeff Lucia said.
Falck said staffing challenges are hitting the industry hard.
“Almost everything comes down to staffing these days. It's a difficult time for healthcare workers, for frontline healthcare workers. It's a difficult time to be one, and people have left the field,” Lucia said.
Falck began providing service to the city of San Diego in November 2021 and they have a five-year contract with the city.
“What we do know is that we need more ambulance hours and if Falck as they've shown, cannot produce those hours, we need to look at options,” Stowell said.
In January, those options will be presented to the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods committee on how to move forward.
