Many Michigan ambulance services have faced staffing shortages this year. Drummond Island EMS Chief LaRae Dorman said she doesn't know of a service in the eastern Upper Peninsula that isn't struggling with staffing.
Currently the Drummond Island service can schedule staff to cover five days of the week, and they have implemented a paid on-call position for volunteers in recent years that allows them to be more reliable for the community.
The island’s need for volunteers was exacerbated when a local firefighter had a medical complication on a scene, now his wife- a former EMT with the township service- is taking care of him.
Dormans says her lead EMT is 77 with “a lot of gusto” and two of the four Medical First Responders are retired and nearing 70. According to her this is, or soon will, cause the services' biggest staffing issue- the education time needed against the current need for staff.
The training course takes four months to complete and then a state license must be obtained before actual volunteering can begin. Dorman also says it takes about a year to develop the skill set needed to be a lead EMT or provide the most valuable service to the community.
The service has been fully fun by volunteers for over 50 years and offers a training course each October. The course takes four months to complete a then state licensing is needed before volunteering can start.
Dorman says 14 years ago they had their first “large class” that produced six EMT’s. She says enrollment and completion numbers have been declining ever since. This year, the course only produced one EMT who is awaiting her state licensing now.
Dorman told WCMU that the service is working on more solutions to the staffing issue, including bringing volunteers from off-island to work shifts.
