One of the unspoken assumptions that many Nebraskans make every day is that we can call 911 and get an ambulance dispatched quickly if there is a medical emergency. Outside of the major population centers, this is not always true. Ambulance crews in Lincoln and Omaha do not have to hold fundraisers to provide the revenue they need to maintain their vehicles and equipment and operate their rescue squad. In rural Nebraska however, the local volunteer rescue squad is often all there is. If you get hurt and have to dial 911 in much of my legislative district, you are in for a long wait, over an hour sometimes. We had better MEDEVAC coverage in Afghanistan. 

It is very hard to find volunteers in rural Nebraska for anything. The ongoing labor shortage is making something that’s already bad even worse. Rural Nebraska’s population is increasingly more elderly, so the pool of citizens to draw from is shrinking as well. Most of our rural counties have little in the way of public resources, and no one can afford a property tax increase to help fund these services. The Legislature should make sure that there are not unnecessary obstacles to those seeking to serve as volunteer emergency medical technicians (EMT).

Any expense associated with becoming and serving as a volunteer EMT should be tax exempt. These costs borne by individuals should result in an income tax credit. Right now, a volunteer rescue squad is reimbursed about half of the cost for a new volunteer’s training and national test. Only after the test is passed and the person is licensed in Nebraska can the costs be submitted for reimbursement. In the meantime, the only way for the rescue squad to pay for these expenses is through fund-raising, or collecting fees from patients they transport, assuming the patient has insurance to collect from. 

The trek from Gordon to Valentine is about one hundred miles. There is only one EMT along this stretch of road, in the small town of Merriman. If this person is not available, the nearest ambulance is in Martin, South Dakota. This crew has taken it upon themselves to become licensed in Nebraska so they can respond to calls in our state. I hope that others will answer the call to serve in this way. But the Legislature has a role to play in fixing this problem, too. Much has been done with occupational licensing in the legislature. Our law needs to ensure there is a reciprocity agreement between surrounding states and Nebraska’s licensing authority so these volunteers can quickly and easily respond without bureaucracy slowing this down.

This is one illustration of the need for Senator Tom Briese’s LB 263, which would mandate a streamlined occupational licensing process in Nebraska for folks with professional licenses in other states. The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee recently held an interim study hearing on the topic of “universal certification.” I am optimistic that we will act quickly to move LB 263 along in the legislative process when we reconvene the Legislature in January. The way we treat first responders in rural Nebraska must change. We are flirting with a tragedy if we don’t.