Nancy Edmonds Hanson
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected Clay County’s six rural emergency medical response programs in many ways – none of them good. The county commission Tuesday approved appropriations of $5,000 for each of them to help offset the problems created or made worse by the pandemic.
“It’s not nearly enough. This won’t make them whole,” commissioner Kevin Campbell said of the grants, which come from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funding. “But it’s something we can do to help.”
The problems faced by emergency medical responders in Barnesville, Felton, Glyndon, Hawley, Sabin and Ulen were brought to the commission’s meeting Tuesday by county emergency manager Gabe Tweten. Since the eve of the pandemic in 2019, the all-volunteer programs have been coping with a variety of pandemic-fueled problems.
Finding local volunteers, he said, is a perennial challenge, but Covid-19 made it worse. “Many of their regulars have been less available because of their age and concerns about the pandemic,” he noted. At the same time, the number of calls has accelerated, due not only to population growth in the more rural parts of the county but also to mental health-based issues fueled by the situation. He cited the rising number of calls for service, from 1,130 in 2018 and 1,138 in 2019 to a slight dip of 1,097 in 2020, and up again to an all-time high of 1,296 in 2021.
“Recruiting volunteers had already been extremely difficult prior to this, but it’s gotten even worse since Covid,” the emergency manager pointed out. “In some communities, just a couple of people have been carrying the bulk of the caseload. It’s a huge strain. Burn-out is a big problem.”
Costs of operational supplies have risen dramatically due to both inflation and supply-chain issues. Tweten cited the cost of batteries needed for the portable radios issued to every volunteer, up 40 to 50% (“if you can get them at all”), and fuel that’s $1.10 higher per gallon this year. “Here’s just one instance – boxes of regular blue disposable nitrile gloves,” he told commissioners. “In 2018 that box cost $7.75. It went up to $20.99 for awhile. Now it’s back down to $13.80 – about twice what it had been.”
Compounding the problem, he said, was Covid-era restrictions that ruled out the community fund-raisers that usually fund the programs, which do not receive tax money. Not only were those events ruled out; the other main source of donations, memorials given in memory of those who have died, was also decimated by far lower attendance at funerals during the restrictions.
After the commission unanimously endorsed the ARPA funding, David Ebinger made a plea for people to step up to support the essential emergency response crews in their communities. “People need to get out there and volunteer again,” he said. “Covid-19 has everybody off-kilter. It’s really concerning. These crews are absolutely vital.”
