By Carrie Moritz, Gazette
Garretson Ambulance Supervisor Kurtis Nelson spoke to the Garretson City Council last week Monday about how the volunteer first responder crew is doing so far in 2024. He pointed out that the crew is on track to have a record-breaking year as far as calls.
"We've had 249 calls for service this year," Nelson said. "We are on track for our busiest year ever, for the fourth year in a row. Our call volume continues to increase year after year. Last year we had 266 which was our busiest year by far, and we're probably going to blow that away this year as well."
The crew currently consists of 16 members, and three in training. Nelson said the daytime roster is the hardest to fill, as there aren't enough people that work in town who are trained.
He pointed out that there are discussions and strategic planning happening at the state level regarding regionalization of EMS services and its future.
According to a news report by South Dakota Searchlight from January, funding and crew/staffing shortfalls have made fast response times by EMS services difficult around the state. Changes may have to be made in order to stay solvent into the future. Garretson Ambulance has the support of the Garretson Volunteer Fire Department, who have trained EMTs and first responders, and nearby ambulance services in Brandon and Sioux Falls, but Minnehaha County's first responders have also experienced a funding crunch. Drops in payments from insurance companies, Medicaid, and Medicare have not helped, and relying on volunteer staff can be difficult in the quest to fill rosters as current trained EMTs get older.
Luckily, support from the community has been beneficial for the Garretson Ambulance crew. Nelson stated the ambulance tailgating supper in August raised just shy of $3,000.
"That was nice, thanks to everyone that was there," he said.
