Funding for Glidden Ambulance included in federal bill

A federal appropriations bill in the U.S. Senate contains funding to help re-establish ambulance transporting service in parts of northern Wisconsin.

The bill would appropriate $151,000 to Glidden Area Ambulance Service to help purchase a new ambulance. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) requested the funding and visited Glidden last month to learn more about the issue of ambulance service in rural Ashland and Bayfield counties.

"That was deeply troubling not only to me but also the people who are living in the community who might need urgent ambulance transport," Baldwin said in an interview with WDIO News on Tuesday.

Baldwin said the federal funding is just a start.

"There’s more to it. They need more people standing up and saying, ‘I want to be a volunteer EMT’ and go through the coursework to serve the communities in that way, but I think this is a big start," she said.

Recruiting volunteers has been a challenge for rural northern Wisconsin communities.

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