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Utah county struggles with lack of ambulance crew

By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
Copyright 2007 The Deseret News Publishing Co.

FILLMORE, Utah — Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker admits several times recently there has not been an ambulance crew available to respond to an emergency here.

One time, it was a shift from about 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Another was a shift from about 2 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next day.

“It’s not good,” he said. “We were depending upon other agencies, and if a call would come in we’d need help from Delta, Scipio or Beaver.”

That means the nearest help could have been 20 to 45 minutes away, depending on which agency would have responded.

There also have been times when Millard County has been without backup ambulance teams. If one crew is dealing with a crash in Delta and another emergency call comes in, there may be no one available to respond quickly enough to save a life.

“We’ve been lucky. We’ve not had a call we couldn’t respond to because there wasn’t an ambulance team,” Dekker said.

The lack of volunteer emergency medical technicians in this rural Utah city has become a huge concern for the sheriff, who is begging for people to step up and help. He’s approached church and community groups and taken out ads in the local newspaper pleading for help. Applications to be a volunteer EMT have been posted on the sheriff’s Web site at millardsheriff.org.

“I know it’s a tremendous sacrifice on their parts, but they truly go out and make a difference,” Dekker said. “They’ve saved lives.”

The sheriff said he’s spoken to other counties in Utah facing similar ambulance-volunteer shortages. Part of the problem is many long-time volunteer EMTs are retiring.

“We’ve got some folks who have been doing this for 20 years,” said Millard County Sheriff’s Capt. Forrest Roper, who worked as an EMT and now supervises the county’s emergency services.

Being an EMT can be time-consuming, often requiring volunteers to work Friday and Saturday nights. There is some pay, however. Volunteer ambulance crews make about $30 for a typical two-hour call, sometimes more if overtime hours kick in.

Recently, at Dekker’s request, the County Commission approved a small stipend to those who carry a pager and are on-call. Volunteer EMTs also need to be within five miles of the ambulance to respond when there’s an emergency.

“It’s one of the most demanding volunteer groups that we have,” Dekker said.

Those who pass the tests and get on board are truly serving their neighbors and their relatives in the most dire time of need. They save lives, the sheriff said.

But getting new volunteers is becoming a struggle.

“What I hear is a lot of ‘Gee I’d like to, but ...”’ Roper said.

An EMT class is scheduled to begin Oct. 12 in Fillmore. So far, only three people have signed up. On any given day, the sheriff said he needs five people on-call. The more people who sign up, the less time commitment overall for those who are assigned to ambulance crews.

“We’re just doing everything we can do to produce interest among the local folks to get residents to sign off on this,” Roper said. “In my opinion, it’s a very, very necessary service.”