The Wisconsin legislature last year convened a study committee on the shortage of volunteers for emergency responder services.
Oneida County Emergency Management Director Ken Kortenhoff recently updated the Three Lakes town board about upcoming changes for ambulance services.
Kortenhoff says detailed the proposed change....
"....what we're doing between Sugar Camp and Three Lakes is we're taking the two volunteer units and creating one paid, full-time unit. for ambulance service up there. It's actually a paramedic service so it is actually a higher level of service. As part of the phased in process we started staffing from 6.00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with volunteer services covering the rest of the time...."
Kortenhoff says the idea is to provide a higher level of service in that part of the county ..
"...it brings the east side of the county up to that first paramedic level first response, a lot like the west side of the county. Then there's a problem retaining volunteers to run the ambulance service itself at the town level. It basically has a full-time ambulance service that's there all the time..."
He says this is faster than a volunteer driving to pick up the ambulance before going on the call.
