CAMPBELL COUNTY, Wyo. — Rural EMS agencies across Wyoming are struggling to keep ambulances on the road amid an estimated $30 million annual funding gap, forcing crews to run high-mileage rigs over long highway stretches with little backup.
In Campbell County, one 2003 ambulance with roughly 300,000 miles on it lost a wheel while transporting a patient, an incident local leaders point to as a symbol of how close to the edge rural EMS has drifted, Cowboy State Daily reported.
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Because Wyoming does not classify EMS as an essential service, counties aren’t required to fund ambulance operations. Many services survive on a tenuous mix of small tax subsidies, grants, billing revenue and volunteer labor, even as call volumes climb and vehicle replacement costs soar.
A bill to declare EMS an essential service failed in 2023 after the Joint Health and Social Services Committee declined to advance it. Opponents warned that without new state funding, the mandate could shift costs onto local governments.
Winter only magnifies the risk. Crews face extended response times, icy roads and long transports between small towns and regional hospitals.
“The challenges that EMS faces during the winter months include but are not limited to: rapidly changing conditions, increased call volume, extended call times, and the difficulties that come with attempting to traverse the long lonely highways of Wyoming at all hours of the day with potential limited visibility, slick road conditions, and the fear of breaking down while on the road,” Campbell County Health Ambulance Services Director Shane Kirsch said.
Wyoming’s vast rural landscape means ambulance crews often have few backup options if something goes wrong on the road. Kirsch noted that long interfacility transfers can leave units on isolated stretches of highway for miles between towns and hospitals if equipment fails or a patient’s condition suddenly worsens.
As state leaders revisit the question of EMS funding and essential-service status, agency directors warn that the system can’t withstand many more failures, mechanical or otherwise. Without stable support, they say, Wyoming’s rural ambulance services will continue operating on borrowed time, leaving patients and providers increasingly vulnerable.
