Rural areas struggling to provide local Emergency Medical Services use creative solutions to fill the void

Southern Henry Ambulance Service’s new hub is a barn in
Knightstown. (Photo by Grayson Joslin, Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The safety net local Emergency Medical Services provides to rural communities has been faltering, leaving some areas without an EMS team to respond to urgent calls. The shortage has some areas creating their own EMS solutions.

Residents of Knightstown, Indiana, have lived without an ambulance service since January 2023, when the regional ambulance service closed due to financial losses and a lack of volunteers. "The town, situated in the southern portion of Henry County, is 25 minutes away from the county seat, New Castle, which has their own EMS services and hospital," reports Grayson Joslin of the Indiana Capital Chronicle. "But sometimes the New Castle EMS may have other calls to answer, so it could be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour for EMS to get to Knightstown."

Knightstown resident and EMT volunteer Kevin Richey decided to explore how Knightstown might develop its own EMS service. Joslin writes, "Richey asked around the Knightstown community to see if there would be support to create a new nonprofit from scratch for providing EMS resources. . . . Southern Henry Ambulance Service was approved as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in early 2023, and started a fundraising effort across Knightstown and on GoFundMe to get the service off of the ground."

Just east of Henry County lies Fayetteville County, Indiana, where over half of the population lives in a rural area. The county has its own ambulance service, but still struggles to meet its call volume. "The county lost its only hospital in 2019," Joslin explains. "This has put an additional strain on its existing EMS operations. Runs that used to take two to three minutes to make now take about 30 to 35 minutes."

Increasing local taxes proved to be a solution to some of Fayetteville's staffing problems. "In 2024, both the Connersville City Council and the Fayette County Council approved a 0.25% public safety tax on income to go toward providing more funds to the county’s various public safety services," Joslin reports. "Fayette County EMS chief Clint Hardin said the funding from the tax allowed him to give his employees a $5,000 raise."

While tax increases are often unpopular, they can finance local needs that most residents support. Hardin told Joslin, "What people kinda lose sight of is property taxes is the only tax that we pay that is 99% local. That funds police, fire, EMS, your streets, your parks, your libraries, your schools. You get to see the benefit of your tax dollars.”