Major challenges will be impacting Kossuth Emergency Services in the future.
Funding is one of the most important of these issues. Emergency services includes the fire department, law enforcement, emergency management and emergency medicine.
“Like most businesses, funding is becoming less and less for the volunteer agencies,” said David Penton, who is Kossuth County Emergency Management Coordinator and Whittemore Ambulance Director. “Post September 11 (9-11) funds were raining down and services were growing and being upgraded. In the recent years, those resources have dwindled. In addition to that, the cut in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements don’t even allow for a break even.”
For more on this story, please see the March 9 issue of the Algona Upper Des Moines.