Members of the Lake County Ambulance Service and the Two Harbors, Finland and Lake County Rescue Squads gathered in Silver Bay last week to talk with area residents about the work they do as first responders and to highlight the need for new recruits. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in rural Minnesota face a number of serious challenges, ranging from finances to staffing and having enough personnel and equipment to adequately cover the regions they serve.
Last week’s meeting was held in the North Shore Partners conference room and gave area residents the opportunity to hear directly about a couple of initiatives that are underway to strengthen EMS services in Lake County. It should be noted that the EMS and Rescue Squads that serve Lake County are non-profit organizations that operate over a 1535 square mile area. Coverage includes all of Lake County and portions of Cook and Saint Louis Counties. Currently, there are two ambulances, one stationed in Two Harbors and one stationed in Silver Bay. There are 38 staff members who provide 24/7 coverage for this area. Many of these staff members are volunteers.
Lake County EMS services recently received some funding in the neighborhood of $324,000 that will help with needed equipment and operational expenses. Additionally, Representative Natalie Zeleznikar helped secure $100,000 for the training of new EMTs and Senator Grant Hauschild helped secure $150,000 that will go to the Lake Superior School District to provide EMT training to area high school students. Randy Strohmeyer, Executive Director of Lake County Ambulance stated that these funds, which have not yet been distributed, will need to be spent within the next year. A training agreement between Lake County Ambulance and the Lake Superior School District has yet to be worked out. A meeting is scheduled later this month to clarify how training will take place. Dan Johnson, William Kelley School Principal, indicated that the funding that the school district will receive comes with some parameters from the State. District officials will be working to understand those parameters and will plan to implement some type of emergency medical services training program in the Fall.
Strohmeyer stated that Lake County actually invests money in the Lake County Ambulance Service which helps with expenses. This is not necessarily the case in all rural counties. That being said, the LCAS business model is that “for every dollar we spend, we get back .40 cents”. Area residents can help support emergency medical and rescue services in Lake County by taking advantage of EMT training opportunities and joining either the Ambulance Service or the Rescue Squad. If you are interested, contact the following agencies.
Lake County Human Resources Office; 218-834-8400. (Lake County Rescue Squad).
Lake County Ambulance Service; 218-834-7110.
The funding of over half a million dollars that has been referenced above, while appreciated, is something of a bandaid when it comes to the year over year expenses of running Emergency Medical and Rescue Services in our part of the state. Lake County residents are fortunate to have a well managed, and dedicated group of first responders available to us. We can extend support to them by contacting our elected officials at both the State and Federal level and asking them to address the gross funding discrepancy between the money that is spent by local EMS services and the low reimbursement rates that they receive back from the Federal Government.
