Rural EMS coverage crisis raises local response concerns

Staffing shortages, reimbursement problems, and unreliable mutual-aid arrangements continue to threaten ambulance coverage in rural Maine and southern Aroostook. Maine has awarded or announced $600,000 in federal training and recruitment grants to Brooks Ambulance Service and United Ambulance Service, but neither recipient is tied to the local coverage area and no direct benefit to Limestone, Caribou, or Presque Isle is known.