By Emma Jane
Billings Gazette
JOLIET, Mont. After two decades of being powered entirely by volunteers, Joliet’s emergency medical services team has taken a major leap forward.
Thanks to a mill levy approved by voters in June 2024, the department was able to hire two full-time staff members around the start of the year — boosting responsiveness in emergency care for Carbon County and surrounding rural areas.
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A mill levy is a property tax based on assessed home value. Carbon County’s current 18-mill levy — estimated to raise $1.19 million annually — replaced the county’s former $69-per-year ambulance subscription fee.
As a nonprofit, Joliet EMS can also apply for grants, but those funds typically cover one-time purchases, not the ongoing costs of running an ambulance service. That’s why Robin Harper, who’s been a volunteer paramedic for 24 years, and other longtime crew members pushed for the countywide mill levy to secure more reliable, long-term funding.
“Carbon County supported it, the people supported it,” Robin Harper said. “That really made us feel good, and also made us feel a lot more responsible, that now we’re working on their money.”
Joliet EMS is staffed by 24 people, all but two of them volunteers. The recent addition of two full-time employees, funded by the levy, has allowed the station to be staffed more consistently — leading to faster response times. In the past, with a fully volunteer crew, calls were often answered from home, which meant valuable minutes lost just getting to the station.
“We stop what we’re doing, we have to come to the station, get the ambulance, and then go to the call,” Robin Harper said. “So the wait time was quite a bit for some people and this has improved things immensely.”
Robin Harper’s husband Terry Harper has volunteered with Joliet EMS for nearly a decade, something he said he couldn’t manage until retirement, given the time and commitment the role requires.
“Even when we don’t sign up for call, we’re on call,” Terry Harper said. “The problem is not so much us doing it, it’s the people waiting.”
That problem extends beyond Carbon County. Montana is one of many states where EMS is not legally classified as an essential service — meaning it doesn’t receive automatic taxpayer funding like police or fire departments do.
“It’s not just us,” Terry Harper said. “Statewide, it’s mostly volunteers, and we’re all struggling.”
This statewide strain has caught the attention of lawmakers. In May, the Montana Legislature approved a joint resolution to study how EMS is delivered and funded across the state — an early step toward potential reforms in the system. Robin Harper said this is not the first attempt at a legislative measure to support EMS.
“There’s been legislation but our people in Helena knock it down every time,” Robin Harper said.
When Robin Harper joined Joliet EMS, she said there was no shortage of volunteers. But with more people struggling financially in recent years, that has changed.
“When I first started, everybody volunteered. That was the big deal back then,” Robin Harper said. “Well, since then, we’ve got families that (rely on) two incomes, and some people are working two jobs. So they just don’t have the time. The whole thing has shifted.”
Despite ongoing economic challenges, community members continue to step up as volunteers. It was from this local pool that Joliet EMS recruited its two new hires: EMT Matt Smith and paramedic Liz Pugrud. Smith, 26, had volunteered as an EMS worker and firefighter in nearby Bridger for two years before being hired in late February. Pugrud spent four years as a Joliet EMS volunteer before stepping into the paid role in January.
“We’d all love to volunteer all the time. You just can’t survive anymore,” Smith said. “It’s been a great thing, getting this mill levy passed. We don’t get into EMS to get rich or make money, so it’s given me the opportunity to be able to do this and still be able to survive.”
Robin Harper said the decision to hire from within the volunteer ranks was intentional, as those individuals had already demonstrated the commitment and values essential to working in EMS.
“They’ve got to have a desire to commit to the organization and maybe go on a call when they’re dead tired, or miss a family function or something like that, because somebody else needs our help,” Robin Harper said. “You should never be in it for the glory. You should go in, do what you have to do, then leave, and don’t have to draw attention to yourself.”
While the community may view EMS work as heroic, Robin Harper said the day-to-day reality is far from glamorous, recalling calls where she left covered in feces or vomit after providing care. Pugrud added that in rural areas, slower response times can mean EMS workers are sometimes met with frustration from patients rather than the gratitude people might assume.
“I try to take it with grace,” Pugrud said. “If they’re calling us, they’re already having a bad day.”
Acknowledging the challenges, Smith said that being able to help people makes it worth it.
“We have a really special job in that way,” Smith said. “We get to show up for people when they really need someone. It’s a really special feeling to be able to help somebody in their time of need.”
The mill levy funding has also allowed Joliet EMS to expand its community outreach. Last fall, the team hosted a workshop titled “Far Out and Waiting,” aimed at helping rural residents better prepare for medical emergencies given the longer response times in remote areas.
“We show different things that you wouldn’t think of, like using a stick to splint a leg,” Robin Harper said. “We hope to do that again.”
Joliet EMS also engages in youth outreach, organizing a program every other year for local middle schoolers to learn first aid and safety skills. Earlier this year, the team also brought one of its two ambulances to a homeschool group for a similar hands-on safety session, Smith said.
“We love to do that,” Smith said. “If people request, we’re more than happy to.”
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