Lawmakers are considering spending $6 million to test the use of "sprint" paramedics in three northern Minnesota counties and confront the state's worsening rural emergency response.
The hope is that paramedics, roving the Iron Range and northwest lakes region in cars and trucks, could shave minutes off response times, and sort out calls that don't need fully loaded ambulances in the first place.
"Could mean the difference in surviving and not surviving," said Jim Rieber, who has led efforts to use sprint paramedics in Otter Tail and Grant counties.
When rural EMS agencies are notified about medical emergencies, they often page paid or volunteer first-responders to hustle to the station and drive ambulances to the scenes.