In a Nov. 25 open letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Aarron Reinert, president of the American Ambulance Association, said emergency medical services are under serious strain because of an increase in calls and lack of federal funding during the pandemic, Fowler reports.
According to the AAA, private ambulance services, which mostly serve small, local businesses, "account for 28 percent of all emergency services nationwide, an in rural areas with no fire departments, EMS-only services account for about 65% of all responders," Fowler reports. "But those companies reportedly received almost no funding from grants associated with Federal Emergency Management Agency" for staffing for adequate response. "Funding for personal protective equipment from state and local coffers has also been virtually nonexistent, according to the letter."
Even before the pandemic, rural areas often had trouble accessing adequate emergency medical services.
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