Minnesota community facing EMT shortage

ALTURA, Minn. (WKBT) -- Ron Ruhoff and his wife grew up in Altura. For more than 60 years, they've called it home. They're concerned how the EMT staffing shortage will impact response times.

"I don't think in a serious situation, 20 minutes I'm going to live through," Ruhoff said. "I would very much so like to see these rural areas get to keep their services."

For Altura Ambulance, staffing is an ongoing issue. Director Jessica Romine says it comes in waves

"People are really excited to join the service and volunteer and then they'll get burnt out or aren't interested anymore," Romine explained.

"Their lives get busy; their life dynamics change. Then we have to start that cycle again where we're putting out a plea, looking for community members to volunteer."

Altura Ambulance is training firefighters on emergency medical response. Even with their help, Romine says the city still needs more EMTs.

"Without EMT, our service will either have to runs as a first responder service or completely dissolve," Romine explained.

The agency is supposed to have 15 personnel. Right now, they have around ten.

David Schwantz has been with Altura Ambulance for forty years. Now that he's retired, he's volunteering more. He says finding volunteers wasn't always an issue.

"Altura was a more vibrant town 40 years ago. Filling those daytime shifts especially were not that difficult, but it was always everyone had a job that they can just take off," Schwantz said.

According to Romine, finding volunteers is tough because the job is thankless and it's not something they think about.

"People don't think about us were just always there. They just assume that were there. So far, we have but that's not to say we will continue to be in the future if we don't get more EMTs," Romine explained.

In May, Governor Walz signed a bill bringing $30 million dollars of emergency aid for departments.

Romine says she would like to use that money to upgrade equipment or put more volunteers through EMR AND EMT classes.

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