CHISHOLM — The $24 million in one-time state aid for emergency ambulance services was distributed just after Christmas.
The funding is a stopgap for rural emergency medical services that face a web of challenges tied to funding, staffing and administrative structure.
Sixty providers in rural Northern Minnesota received some of the money designated by the Legislature last year. Amounts range from $46,000 for Grand Portage Ambulance to $342,000 for Lake County Ambulance, with a total of $10,230,304 sent to the region.
All rural ambulance services with large enough service areas to qualify received the same base aid.
Additional funds were distributed based on the size of a provider’s service area and its response volume.
Ambulance services have until the end of the year to spend their aid.
The municipal Chisholm Ambulance got just over $136,086. Ambulance Director and Emergency Manager Tiffany Larson said the money will cover just under half the cost of a new ambulance.
“Had this funding not come through, it would have been another year or two before we would probably have the funding to get this ambulance -- replace the ones that are getting tired,” she said.
Chisholm has been lucky to avoid some of the challenges other providers have faced like short staffing, Larson explained.
“But that being said, one of my things I tell my staff members is ‘I’ll never be able to pay them what they’re worth,’” she said. “EMS is not currently considered an essential service, so we do not get external funding like law and fire does. We rely solely on surviving on what we’re able to bill and recoup.”
Which oftentimes isn’t even enough to cover the cost of service. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, which make up a growing portion of billing requests in rural areas, cover roughly a third of the cost, Larson estimated.
She said being considered an essential service by the state government “would go a long ways to giving us a bit more teeth for funding.” The Legislature’s joint Task Force on Emergency Medical Services discussed the option but wasn’t sure how it would be funded.
“Anybody you talk to just wandering about the place, they’re going to think EMS is essential,” Larson said. “It feels very essential when you’re calling. ... We’re mandated to have ambulances that cover the entire state, the entire [primary service area], but then we’re not given any money to do the things we’re told we have to do.
“... I think if the general public could be more involved in understanding how emergency services work, that would also help a lot.”
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