By Laura Kennedy
WDIO
DULUTH, Minn. — When an ambulance is called, help is often just a few minutes away. But folks in rural communities sometimes have to wait much longer, because there aren’t enough paramedics and EMTs to go around.
Duluth, Hibbing, Virginia, Grand Rapids and Cloquet all have ambulance services staffed with full-time paramedics. They help cover calls throughout the region. A lot of rural communities have ambulance services as well. But the problem is, many of their EMTs are volunteers. And they’re often not available for calls during the day.
“Area businesses used to let your ambulance services leave and go on a run, but now you’re talking about this service leaving for two or three hours and that business is hurting,” said Pat Lee, executive director of the Arrowhead EMS Association.
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