Salem City Council voted Monday night to add four full-time ambulance medic positions to the Salem Fire Department’s EMS division — two EMTs and two paramedics — after Salem Fire Chief David Gerboth gave a six-month update on the department’s return to running ambulance transport.
Gerboth said Salem Fire rebuilt the service in a short window ahead of the July 1 launch, hiring 60 EMS employees: 52 paramedics/EMTs and eight support staff. He emphasized the ambulance operation is funded through service reimbursements as an enterprise fund and does not affect the city’s general fund.
In comparing the new system to the prior ambulance service model, Gerboth said Salem is delivering more consistent staffing hours and dramatically reducing “level zero” time — the periods when no ambulances are available. He reported the previous system reached about 175 hours per month at level zero (about 5.8 hours per day without an ambulance available), while the current system is averaging about 27 minutes per day, usually in short gaps as units clear hospitals.
Gerboth also reported a sharp drop in mutual-aid transports handled by outside agencies, from more than 500 calls per month previously to 46 last month, which he said improves service reliability and keeps transport revenue from leaving the city.
Financially, he told council the program is operating within budget and is seeing stronger-than-expected reimbursements, including from insurance and Medicare/Medicaid. He also highlighted partnerships, including coordination with Marion County’s REACH program and a collaboration with Keizer Fire District that includes revenue sharing for some interfacility transfers.
City leaders said the four new positions will help reduce overtime currently being used to staff expanded 24-hour coverage and support a more sustainable, reliable ambulance response system.
