A draft report prepared by the Chippewa County Ad Hoc EMS Study Committee has found mixed results for emergency services across Chippewa County, recommending hiring of a County EMS Coordinator with tax levy dollars to stabilize and coordinate services.
The draft report, which still awaits review at the September county board meeting, comes after a months long process of meetings and review by the Ad Hoc EMS Study Committee, composed of county board, EMS, and other leaders.
Boyd-Edson-Delmar, which serves the towns of Delmar and Edson, Village of Boyd, City of Stanley and part of Colburn, was deemed to be in a “fragile balance” in terms of verified on-call hours. Total verified on-call hours for Boyd-Edson-Delmar in 2025 totaled 17,859, or 101.9 percent of the 17,520 required for a 24/7 two-person ambulance crew. At the same time, a heavy reliance on a small number of individuals meant that three individuals accounted for 83.7 percent of on-call ambulance hours, while one responder logged 7,974.75 hours, or 45 percent of total agency hours. Boyd has 32 people on the roster, but 16 logged no on-call hours for 2025. A full 10 of the 16 meanwhile, answered a combined 55 calls from home, deemed a sign of personal dedication but unreliable as an operating model because coverage depends on someone happening to be available when the pager goes off rather than having a scheduled crew ready.
County wide meanwhile the numbers are mixed, with Bloomer Ambulance the most stable service at 22,344 verified on-call hours in 2025 or 128 percent of the minimum. Cornell Area Rescue saw a 1,955-hour deficit in 2025 with 15,565 verified hours or 88.8 percent of the hours required to provide 24/7 for on-call ambulance service, while Cadott Community Ambulance saw a 5,282-hour deficit, covering just 12,238 hours or 69.9 percent of required 2025 hours for a two-person ambulance service. Cadott has 27 people on the roster, but relies on a small number of individuals for most coverage. A total of 15 responders logged no on-call hours in 2025, while simultaneously responding to 259 emergency incidents. Cadott’s five busiest responders accounted for 85.2 percent of all scheduled coverage, with 118 mutual aid responses in but not out to cover the difference.
Among the dangers of over reliance on a few individuals are burnout, shortage of scheduled coverage, and mental health concerns, with 65.52 percent of respondents to a survey stating they agreed or strongly agreed that they felt personal guilt when their agency lacked sufficient staffing. As a result responders can feel obligated to continue working because they know that taking time off could leave calls unanswered or require another agency to travel significant distances.
Mutual aid calls meanwhile temporarily moves an ambulance temporarily outside its own territory, potentially leaving that territory in need of mutual aid of its own.
Faced with the potential for a cascading issue of adequate staff coverage, the report advises creation of a County EMS Coordinator to be funded through the county’s tax levy, in order to stabilize and coordinate existing local services. The coordinator work on immediate stabilization by working with existing agencies and municipalities on recruitment and retention, scheduling, leadership development, training, grants, standardized practices and responder mental-health and wellness support.
Over the long term the EMS coordinator would examine several possibilities, from strengthening the existing volunteer/hybrid agencies with county support to combining vulnerable services into larger regional or multi-jurisdictional districts or extending professionally staffed services into areas that cannot maintain adequate local staffing. The report specifically envisions negotiating municipal collaborations and shared districts and ultimately transitioning vulnerable areas away from dependence on purely volunteer staffing.
The draft report was adopted 9-0 at the Aug. 6 Ad Hoc EMS Study Committee meeting.
Committee members emphasized that the EMS Coordinator proposal was intended to promote collaboration and equitable service rather than replace local EMS departments. Initially conceived as part-time, a revised description concluded that the position responsibilities justified a full-time, 1.0 FTE (full time equivalent) position. The revised job description passed 8-0, with Peter Gehring abstaining. Members also discussed the possibility that a Rural Health Transformation grant could fund the coordinator for as long as four years.