Very, very well-done article in the Des Moines Register.

Special thanks to West Des Moines EMS Deputy Chief and NAEMT Board Member David Edgar for coordinating this important series.

The on-line article is behind a subscription wall, but we’ve placed a PDF version of the 2 part series, and the accompanying editorial here.

De Moines EMS Series.pdf

Notable quotes:

“Many people regard EMS as an essential service, but the system in Iowa and across the U.S. struggles to remain financially viable and to fulfill its mission of quickly delivering care to the sick or injured, local and national emergency officials say.”

“According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' data from 2021, the median pay for a full-time emergency medical technician was $17.76 an hour, even though the job requires training that, for a full-fledged paramedic, typically costs $10,000 to $20,000.”

"The fix isn’t just money, but the fixes require money,"