he way emergency medical services looks in the future could be much different than the way it operates today in Kossuth County. Many in the field believe the volunteer system in Kossuth County today is not working.
It boils down to two specific reasons. First, the systems in the county cannot find volunteers. Second, there is the time commitment that is needed to make a volunteer system work.
Volunteers in the small communities are increasingly working outside of their community leaving those areas unstaffed during the day.
The demands of becoming certified averages around 160 hours. This includes coursework, national-computer based testing requirements, background checks and continuing education requirements.
For more on this story, please see the May 18 issue of Kossuth County Advance.