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Essential Health reports rising call volume, new ECMO partnership and staffing plans for Pine County EMS
Summary
Essential Health presented its FY25 report to the Pine County Board, noting call volumes up in the I-35 region, staffing levels (21 paramedics, 30 EMTs), a new field-activated ECMO partnership with LifeLink and U of M, pilot prehospital antibiotics and AI-assisted charting; officials said some paramedic students commit to three-year work agreements.
AJ, regional manager for Essential Health—overing I-35 ambulance operations, briefed the board on FY25 operations and new programs. AJ said the service covers about 4,900 square miles with four permit-based locations locally and responded to roughly 4,474 incidents in the I-35 area last year, with Sandstone and Pine City among the busiest bases. "We do about 13,000 responses a year for ambulance calls all throughout Minnesota," AJ said in a systems overview.
AJ highlighted several operational changes and pilots: a field-activated ECMO program launched in partnership with LifeLink and the University of Minnesota for some cardiac-arrest patients, a pilot to deliver prehospital antibiotics for sepsis and trauma, and trials of AI tools to improve documentation. He said the organization offers stipends for paramedic students who agree to work for three years locally to help with staffing. Commissioners asked about response-time data and resource shortages during high-volume periods; AJ said the service maintains a minimum of three ambulances on duty and relies on mutual aid when calls stack.
