The pandemic highlighted the critical role paramedics play in communities across northern Michigan.
Munson Healthcare is now getting ready to train more paramedics.
They are often among the first on scene when tragedy strikes.
Paramedics play a critical role in caring for those in a medical emergency, and there remains a critical need for them here in northern Michigan.
With that need in mind, Munson Healthcare is getting ready to start another round of their paramedic training program.
The first new one since 2019.
“The general population is trending toward an older population so there’s more need for medical treatment. There’s been a shift over the recent years from some of the pre-hospital stuff, and now there’s a shift returning to that, pre-hospital medication in and of itself is changing,” said EMS Educator and Program Director Robert Rudzki.
Local fire departments say filling open paramedic spots is no easy task.
“It’s a struggle, everybody is fighting for them so it’s a constant who pays more who has the better facilities things of that nature, who has a nice area people want to live in, luckily for us here on the peninsula we have a beautiful area, we have an area that highly supports our fire department. We’ve been blessed with a core group of paramedics and we just need to build on that,” said Peninsula Township Fire Department Chief Fred Gilstorff.
A struggle Munson hopes to help alleviate, with demand for paramedics expected to remain high.
“A lot of people come to our area for tourism during the summer, they retire to this area, they’re used to having EMS on fire readily accessible where they’re coming from, and we want to be able to continue that care,” said Rudzki.
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