The long-term sustainability of the Moody County Ambulance service is uncertain due to the absence of a full-time paramedic and ongoing funding challenges. The county took a positive step last week, however, by approving the hiring of two new part-time EMTs.
Alyssa Johansen, a nursing student, and Avery Lewison, a pre-med student, were officially approved as new hires during the most recent meeting of the Moody County Commission. They will be trained by the team’s dedicated longtime local full-time staffer, Scott Ganschow.
As a result, county officials have decided to focus on training for now, putting any other hiring, especially of non-experienced staff, on hold.

Moody County faces the same issues that many rural ambulance services across the nation are experiencing — inadequate staffing and financial resources to address operational needs.
This past week, meetings were held with emergency medical providers in both Brookings and Dell Rapids to talk through how their ambulance crews might assist Moody County when needed for emergency transfers. Conversations are also planned with Madison’s EMS team. Staffing shortages, especially that of a full-time paramedic, and financial constraints have increasingly had Commissioners looking at other options to ensure care for county residents in an emergency.
The options currently being discussed include another community or company taking over operations, merging with another community’s services, such as Dell Rapids, or selling the service to an outside third party.
In the meantime, as the county continues to operate the ambulance service, a hiring bonus has been discussed to try and attract a paramedic to the county, which is a critical and urgent need otherwise. Without a full-time paramedic, certain high-risk medications cannot be administered to patients due to the necessary training required.
Wages and work hours, transitioning from a 24-hour shift to a 12-hour shift, remain the most significant challenges in recruiting this essential team member.