Lake County Graduate Testifies at State Senate Hearing on Rural EMT School Program

Sarah Maxwell, a recent graduate of William Kelley High School in the Lake Superior School District, put a Lake County face on a statewide rural ambulance staffing crisis last week when she testified virtually before the Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee during its March 23-24 hearing in St. Paul.

Sen. Grant Hauschild represents Senate District 3, covering the Arrowhead, Iron Range, and Northland, and serves on the Education Policy Committee. He personally invited Maxwell to address the committee, centering her testimony on the Lake County Ambulance EMT School Program, a rural pilot designed to train high school students as emergency medical technicians before they ever leave their hometowns.

The program's origins trace directly to Lake County's ongoing struggle to keep ambulances staffed. In rural areas across the region, EMS personnel have been struggling to keep up with more calls and fewer EMTs, with the two main issues facing Lake County Ambulance Services being retaining current staff and recruiting new ones. Lake County Commissioner Rick Goutermont brought the idea for an EMT training program, structured as a partnership between the Lake Superior School District and Lake County Ambulance Service, to Sen. Hauschild early in a prior legislative session.

The vision behind embedding EMT training inside local high schools goes beyond credentialing. One articulated goal was to establish an EMT program through the high schools, not just in Lake County but also up in Cook County across the whole North Shore, giving students an opportunity to stay local, pursue a career without leaving for college, and contribute to their own community.

Maxwell's virtual testimony before the committee brought a student's perspective to that argument directly. As a graduate of William Kelley, the Lake Superior School District's high school in Two Harbors, she represented exactly the kind of young person the pilot program is designed to reach: someone who grew up in a community that depends on a thin margin of trained first responders.

Sen. Hauschild has repeatedly flagged rural EMS services stretched thin as a central concern for Northern Minnesota, and the EMT school program represents one locally grown answer to that pressure. Bringing a former student from William Kelley to testify before state legislators signals that Hauschild intends to push for statewide recognition, and potentially state-level support, for the Lake County model.

The Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee has not yet announced a vote or formal next steps following the two-day hearing.