7am News, Sports and Obits
Latest WGIL news
Click to play or
Right click and "Save Target As" to download
Click for Galesburg, Illinois Forecast
Home - Cancellations - Community Events - Contact Us - Mornings - News - Obituaries - Pictures - Programs - Special Events Audio - Sports - Weather
Lawmakers Hear About EMS Issues
There may be one issue bigger than all the rest when it comes to recruiting more E-M-T's in rural areas of the state.

The Illinois House EMT Task Force held a hearing at Galesburg City Hall Tuesday on the matter. State Representative Don Moffitt, one of the co-chairs of the Task Force, hosted the hearing.

Pat Hennenfent is Compliance Officer with the Altona-Oneida-Wataga E-M-S, and says there's one big reason why EMT's don't exactly flood the streets.

"A lot of people out there just like me would make great E-M-T's, but many are afraid of all the rules and regulations the state imposes," he said. "Many of our current and new rules and requirements the state imposes might work fine for someone who has made EMS their life career, and are working full time for that."

"But, when you're a volunteer service, things are a little different."

Hennenfent says his force will soon be losing members because of any of a number of rules and requirements.

Others also testified to education and increasing requirements being a concern.

Moffitt says this is the 9th hearing on the matter. Recommendations for change are supposed to be made by the end of the year.
11 16 11 by Newsroom
News management powered by Xpression News

Click here for the WGIL News Archive

Click here for national news

The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.