Rural Volunteer EMS: Reports from the Field. Final Report No. 99

摘要

Prehospital emergency care services (EMS) are an essential component of a comprehensive health care system. Rural residents and those traveling through rural areas rely on EMS for treatment and transport in the event of an injury or other health emergency. In many areas where the number of emergency calls is too small to support a full-time paid EMS service, volunteers are the mainstay of prehospital emergency care. Reports that rural volunteer EMS is threatened appear frequently in local newspapers and online news sources. Surveys have also documented the difficulties in maintaining viable rural EMS. This report explores the current state of rural EMS by interviewing 49 local directors from all volunteer rural services in 23 states. Respondent agencies were considered to be rural if they were located in a nonmetropolitan county or within a metropolitan county in an area with a Rural Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) code of four or higher. A semi-structured interview format encouraged respondents to speculate on the future viability of their local service, describe the challenges they face and what they need to ensure continuance. The descriptions presented represent the perceptions of those interviewed, but are also likely to resonate with other rural EMS administrators.