Local ambulance service continues busy start to 2023

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning Ambulance Service was one of just a number of ambulance services across Minnesota who were recognized for providing outstanding pre-hospital clinical care in 2022. The Henning Ambulance Service received a Certificate of Excellence from the Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board in February for the work the local ambulance service did last year. 

To be eligible for the award, ambulance services needed to achieve a performance rate of 80 percent or higher in five or more individual performance measures. The measures looked specifically at the quality of patient care for things like strokes, chest pain, trauma and pediatrics. 

“It shows you where you can improve, but what you are doing well as well,” said Henning Ambulance Service co-director Chelsea Waskosky. 

Last year the local ambulance service responded to 415 calls, which was just short of a record 437 calls the Henning Ambulance Service responded to two years ago. That’s more than one call a day and substantially higher than pre-Covid numbers of an average of 320-350 calls a year.

By comparison, Waskosky said neighboring communities like Parkers Prairie and Bertha respond to anywhere from 180-220 calls a year. 

The Henning Ambulance Service currently serves over 6,000 people, including residents in Henning, Deer Creek, Vining, Clitherall and up to the border of the city of Battle Lake. 

As it continues to serve an aging community on a near record pace, the ambulance service had to get a bit creative to help fill shifts that were becoming more difficult to staff on a regular basis. Late last year the city council agreed to let the local ambulance service hire three part-time employees to fill weekday shifts from approximately 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., which were difficult shifts to fill since many Henning area residents work out of town, or in a profession they cannot easily leave, when an emergency call comes across the pager. 

Waskosky said the remaining shifts are being covered by the more conventional on-call shifts by staff members. 

While Henning had some challenges filling shifts prior to the hiring of part-time staff members it was far from alone. Nationwide, ambulance services are facing a shortage of qualified EMT’s and EMR’s. 

Waskosky encouraged anyone with the proper training who may be interested in serving the greater Henning area to contact her about joining the ambulance service. Even those who do not have the proper training can go on a ride along and see what joining the ambulance service is all about. She said training opportunities are available to get certified, and if there is enough interest, training could even take place in Henning. 

“If they have that qualification great, if not if we can get a group together we can teach it here,” said Waskosky. “If people have an interest and want to see what it’s all about, they can come along and see.”

In fact, a person who joins the Henning Ambulance Service will have their costs for becoming certified covered by the City of Henning if they join the local service for at least one year. Currently, there are 21 members of the Henning Ambulance Service, but just a handful of people are able to regularly cover shifts. That means more members are always needed to help to cover the region. 

For more information about being a part of the Henning Ambulance Service, contact the City of Henning or a member of the Henning Ambulance Service.