A dozen people from Sanders County gathered on a recent Friday evening at the local fairgrounds. They watched emergency medical providers from the Thompson Falls Ambulance Service demonstrate how to find a pulse, use a tourniquet and stuff gauze into wounds to stop life-threatening bleeding.
This is a “Far Out & Waiting” training. It’s an effort sponsored by the Montana Farmers Union to educate rural residents on what to do when they’re in an emergency and help is far away.
Local bison rancher Melinda Anakalea says, "We just really want to get a good handle on what to do while we're waiting if we need an ambulance."
Anakalea says her 30-year-old son recently began having seizures. They called 911 a few days before the training.
"It only took 15 minutes or so for them to get there, but that was a blessing, like, that's not a guarantee."
“Far Out & Waiting” targets rural residents to prepare them for 911 calls that have wait times that can last more than an hour. A shrinking number of rural EMS providers are often run by small staff.
Thompson Falls first responder and police officer Jason Thornton says, "Our ambulance crew, we run a schedule, and so there's always coverage, but if there's a second call that comes out we have to scramble to try to find backup."
He says most of their staff are volunteers, and those that are paid aren't paid enough.
"If we could somehow manage to offer a living wage to some of our employees or volunteers or however you want to classify them, that would go a long way. "
Access to rural EMS was deemed a “looming crisis” in 2022 by the state’s public health department. An interagency report found more than half of surveyed providers in the state “frequently” or “occasionally” had difficulty responding to 911 calls. This is, in part, due to funding. Ambulance government reimbursement rates often don’t cover the cost of the service.
State lawmakers are attempting to solve this issue. They recently approved a bill that would pool money from ambulance providers across the state, urban and rural. That money could then be used along with federal funds to help keep small rural emergency services afloat.
Bozeman Dem. Sen. Cora Neumann supported the bill.
"When I went down to Yellowstone to meet with the first responders there, I heard some really terrifying stories about ambulances not being able to reach people who’d been injured – injured, and some even lost their lives," Neumann said during a hearing on the bill.
While lawmakers approved the bill, it still awaits final consideration from Gov. Greg Gianforte.
A similar bill passed the 2023 Legislature but failed to receive the governor’s approval without amendments.
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