Minnesota Matters 10-9-26

Why did you also want to bring Senator Hochschild down here and tour this particular fire station?

Senator Hochschild and I have worked, uh, over these past four years on EMS issues specifically.

He represents the Northland, um, and has a particular interest in rural EMS and the challenges that they're facing.

But quite frankly, we have the same challenges here.

We were at the Cottage Grove fire station, To talk a little bit about the challenges that Cottage Grove faces and some of the agencies around in my district that they face and how similar they are to the challenges we see in the Northland.

For example, Cottage Grove recently had to give up part of its primary service area, the geographical area that their ambulance service covers, because it just wasn't financially viable for them.

They were losing money.

And the same thing is happening in Senator Hochschild's district.

So it was to really bring attention to the fact that EMS agencies statewide are struggling, and we need to continue to help them and do whatever we can at the legislature to make sure that no matter what your zip code is, you have a reliable ambulance to come and help you when you need it.

Yeah, we mentioned you are a firefighter paramedic, so you're out there.

You see all these challenges firsthand.

What are you encountering when you go out on the runs?

Well, I need, it depends on the service.

So I work for two different services.

One is a paid on-call fire department where I work as a firefighter paramedic.

Another is a hospital-based ambulance system where I respond to 911 calls.

And when we're talking about, I mean, one of the biggest challenges we're seeing right now is staffing, especially for our paid on-call models, which is what people think of as a volunteer service.

So for example, the paid on-call fire department that I work for, We don't get, we don't get paid unless we go on a call, hence paid on call.

And it's difficult to find people that are willing to volunteer.

Like for example, right now, as I'm talking to you, if my pager goes off, I'm expected to respond to a call if I'm available.

It's hard to find people harder and harder to find people that are, have that kind of time and availability and a willingness to kind of put their life on hold at any hour of the day, leave whatever they're doing and go respond to an emergency.

But paying for staffing is really expensive when a community has been used to getting that for free.

So those are some of the challenges that we're seeing, not only in my district, but statewide.

Is there a way that, I don't know, maybe even schools and universities could provide this and get the option out there so more and more young people know that this is something they can do?

And we've actually done that.

Why did you also want to bring Senator Hochschild down here and tour this particular fire station?

Senator Hochschild and I have worked, uh, over these past four years on EMS issues specifically.

He represents the Northland, um, and has a particular interest in rural EMS and the challenges that they're facing.

But quite frankly, we have the same challenges here.

We were at the Cottage Grove fire station, To talk a little bit about the challenges that Cottage Grove faces and some of the agencies around in my district that they face and how similar they are to the challenges we see in the Northland.

For example, Cottage Grove recently had to give up part of its primary service area, the geographical area that their ambulance service covers, because it just wasn't financially viable for them.

They were losing money.

And the same thing is happening in Senator Hochschild's district.

So it was to really bring attention to the fact that EMS agencies statewide are struggling, and we need to continue to help them and do whatever we can at the legislature to make sure that no matter what your zip code is, you have a reliable ambulance to come and help you when you need it.

Yeah, we mentioned you are a firefighter paramedic, so you're out there.

You see all these challenges firsthand.

What are you encountering when you go out on the runs?

Well, I need, it depends on the service.

So I work for two different services.

One is a paid on-call fire department where I work as a firefighter paramedic.

Another is a hospital-based ambulance system where I respond to 911 calls.

And when we're talking about, I mean, one of the biggest challenges we're seeing right now is staffing, especially for our paid on-call models, which is what people think of as a volunteer service.

So for example, the paid on-call fire department that I work for, We don't get, we don't get paid unless we go on a call, hence paid on call.

And it's difficult to find people that are willing to volunteer.

Like for example, right now, as I'm talking to you, if my pager goes off, I'm expected to respond to a call if I'm available.

It's hard to find people harder and harder to find people that are, have that kind of time and availability and a willingness to kind of put their life on hold at any hour of the day, leave whatever they're doing and go respond to an emergency.

But paying for staffing is really expensive when a community has been used to getting that for free.

So those are some of the challenges that we're seeing, not only in my district, but statewide.

Is there a way that, I don't know, maybe even schools and universities could provide this and get the option out there so more and more young people know that this is something they can do?

And we've actually done that.