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Emergency Medical Services

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in North Dakota face significant challenges. Over 90 percent of EMS staff are volunteer, with continually dwindling numbers. Many ambulance services and quick response units do not have reliable and sustainable funding sources. To support North Dakota EMS, the Center for Rural Health:

  • Conducts research on rural emergency infrastructure.
  • Facilitates and encourages the ongoing collaboration between emergency medical services and critical access hospitals throughout North Dakota.
  • Partners with the North Dakota EMS Association to provide quality improvement initiatives for EMS units.
  • Works with North Dakota Department of Health & Human Services, Division of EMS and Trauma and other stakeholders to determine how a community paramedicine model might work in North Dakota.
  • Support efforts to assist critical access hospitals and rural communities in developing collaborative regional or local systems of care, addressing community needs and integrating EMS.

For more information, see the Emergency Medical Services page on the Center for Rural Health's Rural Health Information Hub website.

Key Contact

Jody Ward, MS, RN, APHN
Program Director

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