NRHA in the News – Mobile lab trains first responders after hospital closures

January 13, 2023

NRHA in the News – Mobile lab trains first responders after hospital closures

Within the last eight years, 15 hospitals have closed in Missouri, most of them in rural areas. A mobile simulation lab is now helping train first responders in the state following these closures. Additionally, in rural Traer, Iowa, the struggling ambulance service operates with three paid employees and 16 volunteers. According to Shaun Kennedy, Traer ambulance manager, EMS needs to be made an essential service, as reliance on volunteers – many of whom are either retirement age or young people working out of town – can only get the ambulance service so far.