Amid a national EMS staffing crisis, Washtenaw County (MI) fire departments are taking matters into their own hands, reports mlive.com.
On Tuesday, Scio Township became the second recent Ann Arbor-area community to buy its own emergency apparatus. It will allocate $260,000 of the township’s $1.88 million in federal COVID relief to buy and equip it, the report says.
The purchase comes during a historic EMT and paramedic shortage at Huron Valley Ambulance (HVA), the 40-year-old nonprofit ambulance service that handles all the county’s patient transport. The Chelsea Area Fire Authority last year also bought one, partly due to concerns over HVA response delays.
The ambulance service admits its staffing strain, saying about one in four positions is vacant.
