Mobridge EMS Searches for Regional Solutions

Posted 7/02/24 (Tue)

Our Critical Access Hospital has its own EMS Department (Mobridge EMS) with four ambulances and a strong crew of EMS staff. Our EMS crew works closely with four smaller area EMS organizations: Selby EMS, Timber Lake EMS, McLaughlin EMS (Standing Rock EMS, based out of Ft. Yates), and Herried EMS (Campbell County EMS). We also have strong relationships with Mobridge Police Department, which receives many 911 calls within the region and local fire departments which assist in vehicle extractions and other high acuity calls for service upon request.

Over the last ten years, our area EMS organizations have struggled with recruitment and retention. There is currently a haphazard, unstandardized pipeline for training new EMS workers regionally, a lack of public awareness of EMS needs, and a decrease in volunteers willing to become EMTs. Recently, the McIntosh Volunteer Fire Department closed, increasing response times for many rural residents. Other regional EMS organizations are worried about a similar fate.

Mobridge EMS is leading a project to create a Regional EMS Advisory Group for North Central South Dakota that can identify common challenges and regional solutions that pool resources, reduce duplication, and improve inter-agency communication that benefits the entire region. To accomplish this, staff hosted 4 meetings between April and June of 2024. The first three meetings were be held in Mobridge, Selby, Herreid, and Timber Lake to allow local EMS workers to brainstorm ways we can collaborate together. The last meeting will be held in Mobridge this July to share results of prior meetings and identify recommendations for the Advisory Group to address in the next two years.

If you know a local fire, police, or EMS department that would like to participate in this project, please contact Stephanie Dame at 605-845-8138 or Haden Merkel at 605-845-8180.