By Bill Carey
EMS1
DAWSON, Minn. — Southwest Minnesota EMS Corporation received $9.9 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program to enhance and speed up post-crash care in rural areas.
The funding will equip all 54 EMS agencies and 109 ambulances in the 18-county region with Avel eCare’s EMS services, Southwest EMS stated in a press release. Through the program, EMTs and paramedics will have instant virtual access to board-certified emergency physicians, experienced paramedics and nurses for peer support in the field or during transport.
“Funding for this program will significantly enhance our ability to provide life-saving trauma care and help reduce traffic fatalities in rural communities,” Southwest Minnesota EMS Corporation Executive Director Ann Jenson said. “By partnering with experts from Avel eCare, we can ensure that our EMS teams, no matter how rural, can connect immediately with experienced providers to receive guidance en route to one of our 27 area hospitals – none of which are Level I or II Trauma Centers.”
On average, 35 people die annually in motor vehicle crashes in the Southwest EMS Region, with that number rising to 48 in 2022, and 124 people are seriously injured each year. In this rural area, crash victims face longer waits for EMS, longer transport times to definitive care, and are more often treated by volunteer EMTs rather than full-time paramedics.
“Treatment doesn’t start when patients arrive at the hospital, but at the first contact with emergency services,” Avel eCare VP and General Manager of Emergency Services Rebecca Vande Kieft said. “In a region where it can take up to 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive on the scene and another 60 minutes to drive to the nearest hospital, telemedicine can speed access to post-crash care during the critical Golden Hour in medicine, when the patient’s chances of survival are greatest.”
In September 2023, Southwest Minnesota EMS Corp. partnered with Avel eCare to launch a tele-EMS pilot program in Murray County and Wabasso, with Browns Valley also joining. The Minnesota Department of Health and Avel eCare, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota’s Resuscitative Trauma Care research team, will evaluate the program’s impact on patient care.
The grant is part of $1 billion awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation to over 350 communities through the SS4A program. Over five years, the program will distribute $5 billion to support projects aimed at improving road safety and reducing deaths and serious injuries, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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