Ambulance article [1-24]

Hendricks Community Hospital strives to serve Hendricks and our surrounding communities. To inform our area patrons, we will be publishing topics in our area newspapers about the services and specialties we offer at our local level. Various topics will be covered throughout the next several months to ensure our community is provided with the best knowledge in making their healthcare choices. Our goal is that you enjoy reading more about the services we provide and feel more confident in your decision-making. 

Local ambulance services provide advantage to rural communities

By Kennedy Tesch

If you have ever been in a situation that requires you to have emergency medical attention, you know firsthand how important your local EMS and first responder team was to you in that moment. Many times, local EMS is called for falls, accidents, or cardiac emergencies at a moment’s notice. These services are also needed in situations where accidents or emergencies have occurred, and family is uncomfortable with the transportation themselves.

The Hendricks Ambulance is a volunteer service and covers both Minnesota and South Dakota communities including the Minnesota townships of Hansonville, Hendricks, Shaokatan, Drammen and the South Dakota townships of Scandinavia, Lake Hendricks, Richland, Oak Lake, and Sherman, totaling roughly 238 square miles.

Kylie Jo Wilson-Lustfield, has been with the Hendricks Ambulance crew for almost four years, starting as an EMT and now serving in the ambulance coordinator position for the past six months. Wilson-Lustfield also passed the NREMT test to become a paramedic in August 2023.

Wilson-Lustfield says her main reason for becoming a volunteer EMT is because she has been in a situation where she required an ambulance in a rural area. 

“As I sat on the side of the road, after rolling my pickup and being ejected waiting for the ambulance to show up, it truly did feel like forever,” said Wilson-Lustfield. “In that area, just like Hendricks, they had volunteer EMTs – if no one is available to cover the shift they must have another ambulance called in, which makes the response time longer. This was the case for me; it took 45 minutes for an ambulance to get to me. As many people know, Hendricks is a great community to be involved in and I wanted to give back to the community that has been so welcoming to me.”

A big challenge the EMS team faces are weather/road conditions as well as the large area they cover.

“Some roads are not always clear of snow when we get the call and just getting to the scene is challenging with all the stops and turns we must make,” said Wilson-Lustfield. “In general, the service area is a challenge as well, so we are fortunate enough to have neighboring towns like Toronto and Lake Benton with First Responders that are usually on scene for our further out calls.”Aside from environmental challenges, another big challenge as a volunteer ambulance is finding volunteers. Most volunteers have full-time careers, which they are balancing with life and family commitments. It can be a struggle to cover 24 hours a day for 365 days.

“For some folks, the consensus is they need to be 100% committed to a certain day each week or a permanent weekly/monthly schedule and that certainly is not the case,” said Wilson-Lustfield. “We do have team members that have a standard set schedule, and we have other team members who select days as their schedule allow. I cannot reiterate enough that our ambulance team works well together as we all understand that our life and family commitments come first.”

The Hendricks Ambulance team ensures the community has a well-trained, professional emergency team available for them. At times, they have partnered with Ivanhoe Ambulance and Deuel County Ambulance teams to assist in covering the 24-hour shift schedules.

In turn, the Hendricks Ambulance crew has assisted Ivanhoe and Deuel County as well. Together Hendricks, Ivanhoe, and Deuel Ambulance crews share a united front in collaboration and supporting each other to cover the Hendricks community and rural areas.

“How ambulance calls are portrayed on TV is for entertainment, not how it is in real life,” said Wilson-Lustfield. “Most of our calls are single patient calls, not massive amounts of people. There is the potential for multiple people needing an ambulance, in that case we call our neighboring services in to help.”

Becky Paluch is the co-director of the Ivanhoe Ambulance which serves the Ivanhoe area, part of Taunton and some of the Minneota service areas.

Paluch says she enjoys serving on her local EMS team and encourages anyone who is able, to join.

“It's the community service aspect that fills my cup; I have always wanted to be able to give back for my community and be able to be there to help the community in their time of need,” said Paluch. “I would love to have every able-bodied person sign-up to become an EMT for the service. We have availability for classes year-round and we are always able to support those going through classes.”

Becoming an EMT takes time, it's a lot of information and skills that must be learned. Classes typically run approximately 4-months, and that includes patient-contact time, then to pass the national registry exam. From start-to-finish, it's realistically a 6-month process to become an EMT.

Don’t let this process intimidate you from becoming a volunteer. EMS service is crucial in keeping rural communities alive.

“Our resources are very limited, by not having rural ambulance services, that means that patients are waiting upwards of an hour for help,” said Paluch. “If suffering from a potential stroke or heart attack, that time is crucial for interventions, by the time another service gets to that patient, it will be too late.”

Anyone 18 years old or older can become a member of the EMS. EMR and EMT classes are offered for anyone who wants to join the ambulance team. There is also per diem reimbursement for volunteer time.

“Being part of the ambulance gives you sense of gratitude and appreciation for anyone who is in that field of work,” said Wilson-Lustfield. “Hendricks is a smaller population, so you do end up knowing most of the people that call for the ambulance. There are a lot of “feel good” moments and I can only assume that it is comforting seeing familiar faces show up to help when you are not at your best.”

The first step to getting involved with any ambulance service, not just Hendricks, is to reach out to anyone on the ambulance team.

“I am happy to talk to anyone to help them decided if being an EMR, EMT or Paramedic is something they would like to do,” said Wilson-Lustfield. “After we get that part out of the way it really is simple. The person takes a class, test and maintains their certification. We set this all up and the person just needs to show up to calls and the refreshers.”

EMRs (emergency medical responders) have a two-month course, with psychomotor skills test out.EMTs (emergency medical technician) have a six-month course, psychomotor skills test, and NREMT (national registry of emergency medical technicians) cognitive exam.Paramedic – Must have and EMT certification and then requires a 1-year course with a psychomotor skills test and a National Registry of Emergency Medical Technician (NREMT) cognitive exam.

All levels of certification require a refresher course every 2 years.

For more information, please contact the Hendricks Hospital at (507) 275-3134 and ask for Kylie Jo Wilson-Lustfield, Ambulance Coordinator or email Kylie at KyleneJo.Wilson@hendrickshosp.org, or contact Becky Paluch, co-director of the Ivanhoe Ambulance at ivanambulance@gmail.com or call 612-670-0828.

If you are unable to become an EMS volunteer, there are other ways you can show your support to the ambulance team such as supporting fundraisers and donations as well as simply knowing when it is appropriate to use emergency medical services. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, an ambulance is required when the person's condition appears life-threatening, the person's condition could worsen and become life-threatening on the way to the hospital or moving the person could cause further harm or injury.