LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The start of a new year is just days away, and we're breaking down a new state law that is set to take effect next week.
As we reported earlier this week, Act 537 will expand mental health care for public safety employees.
However, some first responders feel left out.
The law goes into effect on January 1, and it is meant to help thousands of first responders. It requires public employers to cover mental health counseling for first responders after a traumatic event that happens while they're on duty.
Though this does not directly include paramedics, including Scott Gann who has spent nearly 30 years working as a first responder, as a firefighter, in law enforcement, and most recently as a paramedic.
"I actually retired out of EMS, because of my mental health." Gann said, "There's a reason that we have such a shortage of people, services, and resources."
So when a new law passed expanding mental health resources for public safety employees, he was excited, until he read the fine print and didn't see paramedics in the law.
"If you're forgotten about how are we ever going to be taken care of?" Gann explained. "Except, I don't know anyone who's ever said, if they call 911, they wouldn't expect an ambulance to come."
Representative Carlton Wing sponsored the bi-partisan bill after having worked with first responders. He said that regulating private businesses is not in the scope of government.
"Paramedics, most of them by far work for private industry, whereas our police and fire work for the government. So what we can do within government is be able to help take care of these first responders in that way," Wing described.
According to the Arkansas Ambulance Association, as of Spring 2023, 63% percent of EMS services in the state are privately owned.
However, Representative Wing hopes this bill can help set a framework for the remaining public medical responders down the line.
"This is not just the right thing to do emotionally, this is the right thing to do financially." Wing said. "When we lose one of them prematurely, either by leaving the field or otherwise, it's a loss for the entire community."
General Counsel and Legislative Director with the Arkansas Municipal League, John Wilkerson has been working with lawmakers and cities to make sure the mental health resources stick around beyond the initial one-year trial.
"The bill itself for the next year, we'll work with it. And then in 2025, we'll have something even better. And then '26 and '27, we'll have something long-lasting for the mental health of our first responders," Wilkerson explained.
Meanwhile, paramedics like Gann have been pushing for further advocacy for their own healthcare.
"I'm not taking anything away from firefighters. I'm not taking anything away from law enforcement officers, or correctional officers, any of them. We all need it. All I'm asking for is to be included as well," Gann added.
The Arkansas Ambulance Association verified they coordinate mental health options for member EMS systems, but Gann said additional resources like the ones Act 537 creates are still needed in the medical field.
Anyone with questions about the new resources can reach out to their employer or to the Arkansas Municipal League.