The Cadott High School Auditorium was a busy place on January 8th as a diverse group of EMS professionals, first responders, fire department personnel, local, state, and federal leaders, medical …
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The Cadott High School Auditorium was a busy place on January 8th as a diverse group of EMS professionals, first responders, fire department personnel, local, state, and federal leaders, medical directors, and law enforcement personnel from Cadott, Chippewa Falls, Cornell, Stanley, Boyd-Edson-Delmar, and Bloomer gathered to discuss ways to facilitate and strengthen the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system within the county. The focus of the meeting organized by the Chippewa County EMS Association was not on funding, but to strengthen EMS in the county along with gathering feedback on possible solutions. EMS in Chippewa County, which provides out-of-hospital emergency healthcare and transport, is facing a potential crisis, as many departments are operating with six or fewer staff members, raising serious concerns about their long-term sustainability.
Marcy Trubshaw, with Chippewa County Emergency Management, helped coordinate the meeting and emphasized that EMS is such a critical piece of the infrastructure in getting patients the care and help they need. EMS currently faces significant challenges including reliability issues and sustainability issues, particularly in departments where the majority are volunteers. These issues are not only in northern Wisconsin but all over the state. Key challenges discussed included lack of funding and declining volunteer numbers, driven by factors like rising living costs, time away from families, and extensive training requirements.
“The closure of HSHS has created significant challenges here in Chippewa county,” said Garret Zastoupil, UW-Madison Extension Chippewa County Community and Leadership Development Educator. “But largely we are serviced well when it comes to time of respond to calls that come in.”
Ron Patten, Boyd-Edson-Delmar Fire Chief & EMS Director and Stanley Fire Chief & EMS Director, spoke on the lack of coverage for certain municipalities, lack of funding, and increase in call volume. “We do appreciate them a lot,” Patten said of the volunteer first responders and fire fighters that have had to take on more responsibilities.
“This is not an easy fix,” said James Small, Wisconsin Office of Rural Health’s EMS outreach program manager, who added that the issue is far more complex than it may seem. Sharing information from studies that had been sent out earlier on how many people are doing the work on the surface, Small revealed, “There was 21% of the services overall in the state had two to three people doing 89% of the work.” Small emphasized that the issues affecting EMS are not “cookie cutter” and will take time for a solution. People are needed to champion the project, and form workgroups that include collaboration among municipal leaders, EMS providers, and community members. Meeting attendees were invited to ask questions or provide comments during the second half, where topics included the types of incoming calls, prioritizing the mental health of first responders, and concerns about increased training requirements for EMR volunteers.