Is EMS essential?

Is EMS essential? Yes, but also, no.

Under state law, fire protection and law enforcement are essential, meaning the government is legally obligated to fund them. EMS officials around the state are trying to make sure EMS has that same designation.

Paramedics and EMTs may not always be the first to show up to the scene, but when it comes time to perform lifesaving measures, the firefighters and officers let them step in and do their work.

In Gillette, and any other community that has ambulance service, it’s easy to take it for granted. You don’t think about it until you need it, but when you do, you expect that when you call 911, an ambulance will show up within minutes.

But over the last several years, communities in Wyoming have lost their ambulance service.

Campbell County Health runs a regional EMS system with ambulances in Newcastle and Sheridan, on top of what they do in Gillette and Wright. Hospitals in Cody and Casper have done the same thing.

If Campbell County Health didn’t put its name into the ring for Sheridan ambulance services, that community would’ve found someone else to fill the gap. But Newcastle probably wouldn’t have been as lucky.

Private industry is great. And I’m sure private EMS companies are good at what they do. But what happens if they don’t make enough money to cover their costs? They’ll raise their prices or leave town and take their business elsewhere, and that town is left with no ambulance.

If EMS is an essential service under state law, this would, in theory, prevent this from happening.

But the state needs to avoid creating an unfunded government mandate. The federal government does that constantly, much to the chagrin of the states, counties and cities around the country.

The state legislature is guilty of this, as well. It’s the easy way out. Say you support something without allocating funds and let the communities figure out how to deal with the consequences of decisions made in Cheyenne. Designating EMS as essential without any financial allocation does nothing to move things forward.

It does bring up a good point. What is essential? What services are Wyoming residents OK with their taxes going toward?

If the state does decide to make EMS essential, and if it figures out a way to fund it, that money will have to come out of some other part of the state’s budget.

Whether you believe EMS is essential or should be a responsibility of private industry, let your legislators know.

Yes, a ride in the ambulance can be expensive. But, and I don’t mean to be morbid, so are funerals.

And having no ambulance on its way is a bleak prospect.