Chippewa County Report Highlights EMS Staffing Struggles

A draft report recently released by a Chippewa County committee found significant gaps in EMS service coverage across parts of the County.

According to the draft report, the Chippewa County EMS Study Committee determined that currently available ambulance services in the eastern portion of the county don’t have the staff needed to guarantee a response for an emergency call.

The report specifically found that the Cornell Area Rescue Squad and Cadott Community Ambulance Services were struggling with staffing shortages. The operational minimum staffing for EMS service providers requires at least two responders to be on call and available to respond at all times. According to the report, Cadott Community Ambulance Services was meeting that minimum staffing requirement about 70 percent of the time last year and the Cornell Area Rescue Squad was meeting that requirement about 89 percent of the time.

When those EMS providers are unable to respond to an emergency call they turn to providers in neighboring communities for assistance, which leads to increased response times and additional strain on that service across the region. The report also highlighted burnout concerns for EMS workers, finding some cases where just three volunteers were covering nearly 90 percent of the on-call hours.

In addition to staffing shortages, the loss of the HSHS hospitals in the Chippewa Valley also placed enormous strain on EMS services. Chippewa Falls was left without a hospital entirely, forcing providers to travel further distances with longer response times for calls as well as increasing maintenance costs with the additional wear and tear on their equipment and vehicles.

The committee also proposed using tax levy funds to hire an EMS Coordinator for all of Chippewa County, hoping that streamlining EMS operations will improve efficiency and reduce that strain on understaffed providers.