Rural Nebraskans look to the state for help with ailing emergency services

Rural Nebraskans often wait 25 minutes for an
ambulance. (Photo by Jonnica Hill, Unsplash)

Rural ambulance services have been short on volunteers for years, but in states like Nebraska, the situation has become so extreme with slowed response times and long drives to get medical care, residents are asking their state government to help, reports Adam Sanderford of the Nebraska Examiner. "Rural Nebraskans who wait longer than their urban peers for ambulances to arrive and then deliver a patient to a hospital told state lawmakers that many of their local emergency medical service providers need state help to stay afloat. . . . The interim study hearing sought by State Sen. Myron Dorn drew testimony from first responders and hospital groups. Many shared steps Nebraska could take to help smaller communities recruit, train and retain more emergency medical responders."

Volunteer fire and rescue squads are common in Nebraskan communities, but "many struggle to replace older helpers. Additionally, as the rural population ages, calls for service are up, adding pressure to the volunteers who remain," Sanderford writes. "Dorn said this means farmers and rural employees leave their jobs more often, making it harder to persuade a generation of young people to help. It's also harder to recruit volunteers from among younger adults who have children at home, busy with activities."

Nebraska is one of three states with the highest rates of rural residents living more than a 25-minute drive from where an ambulance is stationed, according to a national study by the Maine Rural Health Research Center. "More than 76% of the state's counties had some residents living at least that far from a station," Sanderford writes. "Dwyer told State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair that no state has all the answers for providing rural EMS service. However, he said, many states spend more on addressing the issues than Nebraska. . . . In 2022, South Dakota earmarked up to $20 million for emergency medical services. This money appears poised to boost rural EMS service, from EMT training to helping smaller communities replace old equipment and access telemedicine."

At the hearing, rural first responders "called on the state to pay upfront for training new potential emergency medical responders and medical technicians instead of making them or their volunteer departments seek reimbursement," Sanderford reports. "Angela Ling of the Nebraska Hospital Association stressed the importance of the state seriously discussing the impact on rural rescue squads of inadequate Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that leave EMS agencies fighting to make up the differences."

"One testifier, Wahoo EMS director Grant Anderson, called on the state to address in state law which levels of government should shoulder what costs of emergency medical services," Saderford writes. "Wahoo, pop. 4, 800, and Ashland, pop. 3,100, provide EMS services beyond the city limits, but only city taxpayers pay the costs beyond what fees cover. . . . Nebraska state law requires EMS service as an essential service, but it does not specify which level of government should fund the service." Commenting on the state's plans, Ling told Sanderford: “I do not have the solution but hope this is the beginning of a conversation.”