Organizations across Minnesota and South Dakota received a $9.9 million grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reduce roadway fatalities through the Southwest Minnesota Advancing Remote Tele-EMS grant, according to a Sept. 19 press release from the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Southwest EMS began collaborating with Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths and South Dakota-based Avel eCare to implement telemedicine into ambulances across 54 agencies in southwest Minnesota in September 2023. The Translational Center for Resuscitative Trauma Care, a research center dedicated to developing effective trauma care, joined to help research the effectiveness of the program in May 2024, according to Executive Director of Southwest Minnesota EMS Ann Jenson.
Technology from Avel consists of a small TV screen and camera near the back door of the ambulance in addition to two microphones by the patient’s cot allowing someone from Avel to see, hear and speak to the patient and paramedics, Jenson said. Two satellite disks will sit on top of the ambulance, constantly searching for cell phone signals to keep the ambulance in contact with Avel.
Southwest Minnesota has no level one or two trauma centers and only three level three centers, Jenson said. This means residents in the area have to drive almost three hours to get to a hospital able to treat life-threatening injuries.
Jenson said she always thought using telemedicine, where doctors and patients communicate via phone, video chat or text, in the field would be helpful.
The pilot site for the program launched September 2023 in Slayton, Minnesota, where they perform around 500 ambulance runs a year, Jenson said. They only have one full-time ambulance director and a part-time employee. The rest of the staff consists entirely of volunteers.
“It was crazy, the stories of how this changed patient care, because now almost at first patient contact, they have a nurse, and then either a physician or a paramedic,” Jenson said.
In a rural area where most EMTs and paramedics are volunteers, some of them only doing one or two runs a month, Avel’s extra set of eyes in an emergency is helpful, Jenson said.
Southwest EMS opened a second site in February 2024 to collect further data on the program.
Rebecca VandeKieft, the vice president and general manager of emergency and EMS services for Avel eCare in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said the telemedicine in ambulances helps take some of the stress off paramedics.
“EMS workers are having to do about 20 things all at the same time, especially if it’s a really sick patient, and they’re having to do that while moving to wherever they’re going,” VandeKieft said.
Avel is also available to assist with translation services if necessary between the patient and paramedic, VandeKieft said.
While Avel eCare is based in South Dakota, VandeKieft said they are familiar with Minnesota’s healthcare system.
“We have been in the state of Minnesota for a long time as a healthcare partner in the telemedicine world,” VandeKieft said.
Gregory Beilman, a professor in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Surgery and director of the Translational Center for Resuscitative Trauma Care, said he heard of the Southwest EMS telemedicine program from the Minnesota Public Radio. From the moment he heard the story, he knew he wanted to help.
“I was listening to MPR driving to work last winter, and they talked about what Ann (Jenson) was doing down in southwest Minnesota with tele-EMS, and I said, ‘That’s what we need to be doing,’” Beilman said.
Beilman said the Translational Center for Resuscitative Trauma Care is most interested in the efficacy of the technology. They review how long it takes patients to get to the hospital, the treatment patients receive in the ambulance and if the hospitals are prepared when patients arrive.
“I think this technology has the opportunity to work in a number of ways, first and most importantly, it has a potential to save lives,” Beilman said.
While the grant is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Beilman said he wants this technology to be used for other emergencies as well.
“The most common things that people come into the ER for that kill them are three things: road accidents, heart attacks and strokes,” Beilman said. “So if we focus on those three things, we’re going to make a difference for people in the state of Minnesota.”
Jenson said the partnerships between Southwest EMS, Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths, the Translational Center for Resuscitative Trauma Care and Avel eCare have made a difference in the development of the program.
“We are so grateful for our partnerships with everybody that’s helped us get to this point,” Jenson said.