Firefighters across Minnesota are increasingly responding to 911 calls to lift elderly people off the floor, even at some senior care facilities with their own staff.
More than 7,100 times last year, fire departments across the state were dispatched to assist frail but uninjured people, a nearly threefold increase from a decade prior. The unreimbursed runs come at a cost to taxpayers — $825 per call, by one estimate — summoning a fire truck and several firefighters to perform a “lift assist” without medical treatment.
It is a worrying trend for many local fire departments already responding to mounting medical calls, since it can leave them shorthanded for major emergencies and puts firefighters at risk of back injuries. It also underscores the sometimes uneven care offered by senior housing complexes springing up across the metro area.