(Sioux Falls, SD) — South Dakota is facing the problem of EMS staffing like many other states across the country. Alan Perry, the director of EMS for Lennox Area Ambulance, says his crew lost 14 people at the start of COVID and have only replaced five of them. Harold Timmerman, the Lincoln County Emergency Management Coordinator, works with all the county’s EMS crews and believes increases in training hours may be discouraging people. An ambulance service could be shut down if a critical point of short staffing is reached, affecting more than just that town and all-around response times. Earlier this month, the South Dakota Department of Health Secretary warned that ambulance services across the state are struggling with staffing.
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