- Next up, in our Wisconsin look,
we go to Pepin County for a look at a rural issue that's very
literally an issue of life and death in one small town.
Reporter Andy Soth has more.
- In a small town grocery store in western Wisconsin,
a man collapses with a cardiac arrest.
- 911.
What's the address of your emergency?
- Peter Pillman who supplied the tape has
both a professional and personal interest in the case.
The man is his father.
- He had bystander CPR.
Someone who came in right away, when he was found
and started providing that.
- They're doing CPR right now on him.
- For Pillman, the closed circuit camera
caught everything going right.
- EMS were able to bring him alive to the hospital.
- Transporting a 66-year-old male
to the emergency department.
- Pillman's father made it and has recovered.
But typically a cardiac arrest under these circumstances
has less than a 2% survival rate.
For all that the footage may say
about the fragility of human life, Pillman shares it to talk about
the fragility of the system that saved a life that day.
- These rural areas are totally dependent on volunteers.
- Pillman is the ambulance director
for Durand in western Wisconsin.
A small community, like many others in the state,
that's having trouble filling volunteer positions in its
emergency medical service.
- We have seen a decrease in the number of people that have
time or are willing to put time into community involvement,
specifically in the ambulance, probably because the commitment
is quite extensive.
- Ok, wiggle.
- To start, there's required training,
like the summer-long class at Western Technical College
in La Crosse.
- We used to have janitors or others that could leave work
to go on an ambulance call and had flexible hours.
That's no longer the case.
- According to Pillman, downsizing and increased
efficiency in business and government have made it harder
for people to volunteer.
And many in the Durand area commute to larger towns for
work.
- Pull straight back.
- Back at the EMT training class,
it's clear that public service is still a motivating force.
- In the rural areas it's -- you know,
it's helping your friends and neighbors.
Doing whatever you can in those few precious minutes until you
can get the patient to definitive care.
- I just love helping people.
- But in a small town you get a lot more of that like filling
feeling when you see the people that you helped.
- But these students, like many taking EMT classes today,
are also motivated by their career choices.
Meaning they may not work or volunteer as EMTs for long.
- My end goal is to be a nurse.
- My long-term goal is to be an EMT.
And then maybe from there going on to medical school.
- In Durand, the ambulance service is doing something that
might have been unheard of just a few years ago,
offering pay for what were once volunteer positions.
- I approached the city with a proposal,
recognizing that this was coming.
- It took not only Durand approving it,
but getting surrounding areas also served by the ambulance
to increase fees charged to each resident.
- That per capita rate had to be approved
by all of the townships as well in the community.
- But even with offering pay, positions have been hard to fill
for many of the same reasons
volunteer staffing has been a challenge.
While it's hard to change those societal factors,
Pillman does have some ideas where legislation could help.
One, making recertification easier.
Another, loosening some restrictions
on what qualified responders can do.
- So everything here is at EMT basic level.
We have limits on what we can use.
- Durand is certified as EMT Basic which means
even if a volunteer has more advanced skills,
they're restricted from using them.
Pending legislation could change that.
- There's a paramedic that lives in Durand
wants to help out Durand ambulance.
Even though we're a basic level, they will be able
to operate at that level when they're working with Durand.
- But ultimately for Pillman,
it still comes down to a community working together.
- That is what made these areas so strong and so viable
is that we did depend on each other.
And we worked with each other to survive.