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Finding people to serve requires innovative thinking

Want to turn over your position on a board or committee to someone else?

Good luck. Finding people willing to serve in leadership positions in the rural Dakotas may be more difficult than it’s ever been.

We tend to blame this on a declining population, but there’s also another factor at play: At the same time populations are declining, the number of nonprofits is increasing.

Members of the Frederick community determined they could no longer guarantee 24/7 response with the EMTs available, and so they gave up their license. Here, Cole Adema, director of the Frederick Area Ambulance, explains some options. Photo by Heidi Marttila-Losure

Life-saving rapid response in jeopardy in some communities

As rural ambulance services struggle to find enough volunteers to maintain their services, it’s the moments of that crucial golden hour that tick away when help takes longer to arrive, or even fails to arrive.