ARLINGTON, Ohio — Across Ohio, the number of volunteers continues to fall at local fire and EMS departments.
In Arlington, a small town south of Findlay in Hancock County - the chief at Appleseed EMS - Todd Richards - is already retired from his full-time job with the city of Findlay.
For the past 30 years however, he's also been serving the community around Arlington, where he lives, as a volunteer EMT.
Richards started volunteering as an EMT in 1993 before eventually becoming chief.
"The department was a volunteer department much like it is today," said Richards. "They needed volunteers, so they held a class and some of us got involved with the instruction and became basic EMTs and joined the department."
He says one thing hasn’t changed over the past 30 years; the need for volunteers to staff the department 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
That need is causing an issue for Richards however, who still wants to volunteer his time for his community.
Because he volunteers at Appleseed EMS, he is unable to access some of his retirement health benefits, even though he is technically retired from his job with the city of Findlay.
Richards described the issue he's having with the Ohio retirement benefits system, also known as OPERS.
"Basically, I'm considered a retire/rehire type of employee, which keeps you ineligible from receiving a monthly insurance stipend benefit," said Richards.
Richards thinks a change coming next year could be yet another sign that he should give up his job as chief at Appleseed.
A levy passed in November will allow the City of Arlington to hire two full time EMTs. They would work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day with volunteers handling the night shift – 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
"From the volunteer end, we need everybody we can get to help out. Everybody's important and there are varying degrees of participation," said Richards. “That could possibly keep us from providing a full crew to respond in a timely manner."
Not just in Arlington, but across Ohio, numbers are down for volunteer firefighters and EMTs.
Between 2018 and 2022, data from the State of Ohio says that volunteer numbers dropped 6.5% in the state. At the same time, EMS calls in Ohio have increased by 11 percent.
WTOL 11 asked Richards what would happen to his department if he decided to retire.
"We would have to rely on a mutual aid service to come in and take that call, if we couldn't provide a full crew," said Richards. "So we have to have at least two people. Two EMTs to respond to a call to transport a patient."
Richards says he will step down as chief at the end of the year and decide then if it makes sense financially for him to keep volunteering.
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