WORCESTER—According to statistics, the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) sector has long faced a significant diversity challenge, particularly when it comes to Hispanic representation. Recent data from 2019-2021 reveals a stark disparity between the Hispanic population in the United States and their presence in the EMS workforce.
While Hispanics constitute nearly 19 percent of the U.S. population, they make up less than 10 percent of EMS professionals. In Worcester, EMS companies say they are ramping up efforts to close this diversity gap and better serve their communities.
Domenic Corey, director of operations at Brewster Ambulance, emphasized the importance of diversity in EMS: “Especially being a family-run organization, we’ve always valued culture and making sure that we have a healthy workplace culture. To have a healthy workplace culture, you have to be representative of the community you’re working in.”
The issue extends beyond workforce representation, argue experts. Hispanic communities often face barriers in accessing timely EMS services, further exacerbating healthcare disparities. Corey highlights the urgent need for targeted efforts to increase Hispanic participation in EMS, pointing to the gap in service and representation.
“We focus a lot on word of mouth hiring,” said Corey. “I would argue it’s our most important means of recruitment and retention. One of the nice things about it is that when you have a representative employee base, you have good penetration into the entire community.”
Some EMS providers, such as Brewster Ambulance, are making strides to achieve better representation throughout the state and in Worcester. Corey noted, “Specifically to Worcester, in terms of those who are assigned to our Worcester base, 22 percent of our employees identify as Hispanic or LatinX and Worcester has almost 25 percent of Hispanics that make up its community. So, we’re spot on when it comes to representativeness of the community.”
However, barriers to entry persist for many potential Hispanic EMS professionals. Corey noted, “Some of the barriers to entry can be education, such as the quality of education that they received during their childhood, to their ability to complete a high school diploma or GED, to their access to transportation to be able to continue education, to financial instability preventing them from paying to go to EMT school, or having to sacrifice income to learn rather than paying for rent and groceries on top of other living expenses.”
To address these challenges, EMS providers are implementing innovative solutions. Brewster Ambulance, for instance, has developed programs to ease entry into the field.
“We have allowed people to come to work only as a chair car driver,” said Corey, “with a lower threshold. They only need a driver’s license and a high school diploma. We also help potential employees enter the field by removing the financial barrier.”
During an extended orientation, Corey said that paid training is provided, and participants are put through EMT school through the ambulance company’s own EMT program without charging for it.
“We can also bridge cultural gaps,” said Corey. “We have so many staff members that work in communities like Worcester that have higher diversity, and because our staff also tend to be higher diversity due to working locally, their ability to bond within the community is higher. There is greater comfort between them and patients.”
Valerie Rossy, an EMT at Community EMS, said that getting into the EMS field emerged from a combination of people, decisions and life situations.
“My mother-in-law and father-in-law were both paramedics and my father-in-law still is.” she said. “I didn’t want to be stuck in an office all day and I looked into what else I could get into that would offer me a flexible schedule and good hours, so I decided to enter the EMS field.”
Rossy explained that there are advantages of her Hispanic background as it relates to her work.
“Being Hispanic has helped me a lot due to the communities we serve, especially in Worcester,” she said. “There are a lot of Hispanics. My EMS partner doesn’t speak Spanish, so me speaking Spanish really helps us in whatever situation we’re in.”
“The population of Worcester is so diverse,” said Don Charest, operations manager of Community EMS. “I remember doing an emergency call here in Worcester and my partner was Hispanic. The patient couldn’t speak Spanish but my partner did, which was extremely helpful and she was my translator. It helped us effectively treat the patient.”
Rossy added, “People that are minorities might not feel they have what it takes to do a job like this or to get their foot in the door. The Earn While You Learn program is not only diverse, but it brings a lot of people together that didn’t know they could do this job.”
To continue addressing the gaps in diversity, Charest said the plan is to continue along the path they’ve started to pave.
“Any obstacles we’ve run into with the instructors we have,” said Charest, “they’ve been able to eliminate those obstacles with the education piece of it. We’ll continue to flood the internet with more info on training/education programs on websites like Indeed and social media platforms.”
Corey stressed the importance of collaboration between industry leaders and policymakers to bridge the ethnic gap in the EMT field. By raising awareness, removing barriers to entry, and fostering more inclusive workplaces, he said they can help ensure that the EMS workforce better reflects the diverse communities it serves.
Matt Olszewski is a freelance content and news writer based in Boston, MA. In his free time, Matt enjoys running, hiking or skiing. Matt is currently finishing up the MPH degree program at Tufts University. He can be reached at mattoskier@gmail.com
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