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MOUNTAIN LAKE, Minn. – A labor shortage is putting people’s lives at risk in rural areas. In fact, the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians warns that its teams are in crisis.
Ambulance services are having a hard time finding qualified staffers, and it’s also tough for those relying on volunteers.
In Mountain Lake, Minnesota, the volunteer EMS service gets anywhere from a few calls a day to a few a week. The closest hospital is 11 miles away, so having an ambulance ready to go can mean the difference between life and death.
Mountain Lake, Minnesota, is a town of about 2,000 people and residents describe the atmosphere as similar to the fictional Mayberry from “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Mountain Lake is home to just over 2,000 people.
“It’s just a nice, quiet little town,” Emily Kunkell, the local ambulance director, said. “My real job is accounting.”
Kunkell said she’ll make the 20-minute drive to St. James for her day job, where she also volunteers for its EMS service. “It’s hard to get people to want to give up their own free time to volunteer to do something.”
Allen O’Bannon has been volunteering for Mountain Lake EMS for over 40 years. He was injured in an industrial accident that left him with chemical burns over 20% of his body. It felt like a long drive from the small town to Rochester, Minnesota, where he received care – and that’s when he decided he wanted to give back. But, he saw the volunteer shortage getting worse.
“Back then, there was a lot more people that lived in town that could break away,” O’Bannon said. “Not as many people work in town, there aren’t as many jobs in town.”
The state of Minnesota requires each EMS to have two medically trained personnel on call 24/7, and that’s gotten tough.
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