This map from the South Dakota Department of Health shows the location of ambulance services across the state and reveals how some rural areas — especially in West River regions — have limited access to emergency transportation services.
Timber Lake EMT Kendra Enright (RIGHT) instructs high school students Aidan Rough Surface and Carter Keller in how to perform life-saving CPR on babies. The training is part of the health curriculum at Timber Lake School. Such classes contribute to the knowledge/skill base that can potentially prevent ambulance calls and exposes students to the possibility of becoming EMTs. Photo by Kathy Nelson
Rural ambulance services in South Dakota are having an increasingly hard time recruiting volunteers and generating revenues, putting the stability of the services at risk and making it more likely that rural residents will endure longer response times in emergencies or possibly lose ambulance service altogether.
While most larger cities in South Dakota have professional ambulance services or fire d…
